Bangladesh annually earns $1.4 billion forex from IT sector: Palak

[Homo Sapiens]

Bangladesh annually earns $1.4 billion forex from IT sector: Palak​

Construction of Hi-Tech Park in Khulna will be completed by June 2024 at a cost of Tk170 crore​

State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak. Photo: Collected
" style="box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer;">

State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak. Photo: Collected

State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak said any discrimination between the country's villages and towns has been eliminated through government initiatives in technological advancement.

"Some 6.5 lakh freelancers are now earning $500 million annually. Besides, about 20 lakh people from other IT sectors are annually earning $1.4 billion in foreign exchange," he said while addressing the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Khulna Hi-Tech Park on Tuesday.

Khulna City Corporation Mayor Talukder Abdul Khaleq laid the foundation stone of the hi-tech park in Khulna.

"By 2025, 30 lakh youths will be employed in the country's IT industry and the revenue will be $5 billion from this sector. To fulfil this target, the government started constructing hi-tech park in 12 districts of the country. Hi-tech parks will be made in other districts in phases," ICT State Minister Palak said.

He further said, "Construction of Hi-Tech Park in Khulna will be completed by June 2024 at a cost of Tk170 crore. There will also be separate floors for training, incubation, startups and business In the seven-storeyed building on 3.5 acres of land."

The state minister called upon the people of Khulna to utilise this opportunity to prepare for the challenges of the 4th Industrial Revolution.

Palak said, "There are many entrepreneurs in Khulna in the IT sector. Many of them are earning foreign currency through freelancing under the government's Learning and Earning Project. This hi-tech park will give people in the region a chance to improve their IT skills.

"Every year, 1,000 youths inKhulna region will be able to take IT training at the hi-tech park. It will create employment for 3,000 people in different sectors," he said.

Addressing the programme, the Khulna city mayor said, "Once the Padma Bridge is opened to traffic, Khulna's communication with Dhaka will increase and the region has to be ready now to reap the benefits."

Managing Director (Additional Secretary) of Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority Bikarna Kumar Ghosh delivered the welcome speech.

Project Director of the IT/Hi-Tech Park AKAM FazlulHoque, Khulna-2 constituency MP Sheikh Salauddin Jewel, ICT division senior secretary NM ZiaulAlam, Assistant High Commission of India in Khulna Ashim Kumar Santra, Deputy Commissioner of Khulna MdMoniruzzamanTalukder and Additional Police Commissioner SarderRakibul Islam also spoke.

Bangladesh annually earns $1.4 billion forex from IT sector: Palak

Construction of Hi-Tech Park in Khulna will be completed by June 2024 at a cost of Tk170 crore

www.tbsnews.net

 

[UKBengali]

IT is rightly a thrust sector and I think the target of 5 billion US dollars of export earnings by 2025 is realistic.

This is a good way to provide skilled jobs to all those interested in IT and there is plenty of opportunity out there as long as the right skills are being offered.

 

[touela]

Read the headline quickly - when I stopped at Palak, I thought where is kofte

but good news for BD

 

[Protest_again]

Employing 3 million for a meagre $5 billion exports. India employs only 4-5 million for $150 billion exports.

 

[Flight of falcon]

Wow …. Bangladesh went from zero IT export to $1.5B in one night under this minister.
They should export their economic team to America to change their economic numbers over night.

 

[leonblack08]

Wow …. Bangladesh went from zero IT export to $1.5B in one night under this minister.
They should export their economic team to America to change their economic numbers over night.

Not sure what you are implying by "Zero IT export".

It is a growing sector in Bangladesh and there is a huge opportunity for Bangladesh. We need to emulate what Indians did to be a global leader in this sector.

This is from 2019 - https://oec.world/en/profile/country/bgd#:~:text=In 2020, Bangladesh exported a,to $41.2B in 2020.

 

[UKBengali]

Some may disparage the relatively low export earnings for 3 million youths but remember they are young and they get to keep most of this money.

As time passes and their skills develop then obviously they can charge much more for their services.

In India it is total revenue of the companies involved and not the actual salaries that people get.

Yes India has done very well in IT but BD has really only been serious about this field for just over 10 years and not many decades like with India.

 

[Destranator]

Wow …. Bangladesh went from zero IT export to $1.5B in one night under this minister.
They should export their economic team to America to change their economic numbers over night.

Export numbers cannot be fudged without getting caught out. There is too much paper trail.

 

[Wood]

Bangladesh will start with service export companies and then move up value chain to build products. SaaS has made it much easier to achieve this growth

 

[leonblack08]

Some may disparage the relatively low export earnings for 3 million youths but remember they are young and they get to keep most of this money.

As time passes and their skills develop then obviously they can charge much more for their services.

In India it is total revenue of the companies involved and not the actual salaries that people get.

Yes India has done very well in IT but BD has really only been serious about this field for just over 10 years and not many decades like with India.

True. But when considering service exports, freelancing can only take us so far. We need institutional level engagement to rope in large scale outsourcing contracts from the West.

We need combination of both the growth of IT businesses and STEM education. This is why India was able to succeed among other factors. In Bangladesh, I see people studying STEM in high school, only to get into a business program like BBA in the university. Just because the job prospects and pay are better as business graduate. Such waste of human resources.

Unless there are large business organizations - both local and foreign with tech jobs in Bangladesh, such loss of human resources can't be avoided. People need incentive to study STEM. Freelancing is certainly helping, but we need institutes to accelerate the growth.

Hope the Government investments in facilitating a tech hub pays off In Sha Allah.

 

[AmiEktaKharapChele]

Should take steps to bring PayPal to Bangladesh.. this number will easily increase by atleast 15% within the year

 

[Bilal9]

Employing 3 million for a meagre $5 billion exports. India employs only 4-5 million for $150 billion exports.

Not looking to have the thread hijacked for a schwanz measuring discussion. Indians started bringing coding work to India in the late 1970s per my information.

Happy for Indians that they have something to do and feed their family dependents with.

 

[Khan_21]

Some may disparage the relatively low export earnings for 3 million youths but remember they are young and they get to keep most of this money.

As time passes and their skills develop then obviously they can charge much more for their services.

In India it is total revenue of the companies involved and not the actual salaries that people get.

Yes India has done very well in IT but BD has really only been serious about this field for just over 10 years and not many decades like with India.

India's comparison is not relevant here since its very much ahead in this sector. No shame in admitting that its decades ahead. BD's IT exports are even half of Pakistan's $4 Billion. It's the same story in startups where India is ahead followed by PK and then BD. we are poised to get $700 million this year in startup funding compared to $250 million in BD.

Something to think about given BD's reliance on only garments and despite many claims of yours.

 

[Bilal9]

Should take steps to bring PayPal to Bangladesh.. this number will easily increase by atleast 15% within the year

My thoughts exactly. Or a similar platform. Can even do this one way where Bangladeshis cannot pay via Paypal but outsiders can.

 

[UKBengali]

True. But when considering service exports, freelancing can only take us so far. We need institutional level engagement to rope in large scale outsourcing contracts from the West.

We need combination of both the growth of IT businesses and STEM education. This is why India was able to succeed among other factors. In Bangladesh, I see people studying STEM in high school, only to get into a business program like BBA in the university. Just because the job prospects and pay are better as business graduate. Such waste of human resources.

Unless there are large business organizations - both local and foreign with tech jobs in Bangladesh, such loss of human resources can't be avoided. People need incentive to study STEM. Freelancing is certainly helping, but we need institutes to accelerate the growth.

Hope the Government investments in facilitating a tech hub pays off In Sha Allah.

Not sure whether BD should exactly follow the Indian model.

It can just set up the framework like it is doing now and allow these talented youngsters to gain experience and then set up companies where they can employ others.
Over time these companies can grow first into medium size and then into large companies.

BD people are hard working and smart and so no concerns about this not happening in due course.