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Cross Border E-Commerce Policy Happening Soon

The Bangladesh government is working on cross border eCommerce policy for the country to operate cross-border trade through digital platforms. Currently, there is no specific policy in place. This promises to boost the export of Bangladeshi products online.

Govt. has formed three subcommittees earlier one by the National Board of Revenue (NBR), and two others by the Bangladesh Bank and the Directorate of Post respectively. The subcommittee will submit three separate reports which then will be discussed by the coordination committee headed by the commerce ministry. After discussion, this committee will propose either a draft policy or propose amendments to the existing policy or other laws.

According to experts, in the absence of digital policy, the government is losing a huge amount of revenue to illegal cross border money transfer networks – such as hundi.

Furthermore, many are running e-commerce business activities while staying abroad - this is contrary to the e-commerce guidelines-2021.

e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB) Vice President Mohammad Sahab Uddin said there was a huge potential for cross-border trade through companies. He added that, the govt. could earn as much as $5B foreign currency from this sector.

Currently, the global cross-border e-commerce market size is around $1,000 billion, which will hover around $4,820 billion by 2026.

Lack of advance payment like the PayPal issue is plaguing growing cross-border trade Ecommerce in Bangladesh. Logistics is another problem for this sector. Advanced education on global marketing, shipping or legalization is also absent.

Bangladesh's eCommerce sector is growing and currently, it hovers around $183K.

Photo Courtesy: Canva

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