Fully automate company registration

The Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD) yesterday demanded the government make the company registration process fully automated, said a press release. 

The organisation made the call during a meeting with Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi at his secretariat office.

The BUILD also urged the government to relax the existing high paid-up capital requirement for establishing one-person companies (OPCs).

"As a result of the higher paid-up capital requirement, the nation is yet to see the predicted rise in OPCs," said Nihad Kabir, chairperson of the BUILD.

She also advocated for eliminating the necessity for a commercial address when applying for a trade licence to facilitate company operations throughout the country.

The BUILD is a public-private dialogue platform, which was launched in 2011 by the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in partnership with the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) and the Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Md Saiful Islam, president of the MCCI, appreciated the government's move that extended the validity of trade licences by five years, thus cutting the hardships faced during the annual renewal of the certifications.

He stressed simplifying obtaining a trade licence and advised that the government could digitalise the trade licence process.

In the press release, Tipu Munshi said his ministry would continue its advocacy with other ministries to simplify the process of obtaining certificates and registration to ensure the ease of doing business.

As part of it, the ministry issued a notice in November 2022 to provide the import registration certificate and the export registration certificate for five years rather than one year.

Referring to the BUILD's request for completing the automation of the services provided by the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms, the minister said, "We will go for full-scale automation."

"And we will go through some internal proceedings as we aspire to be a paperless office and deliver faster business registration services online."