Govt finalises four new initiatives to bring back trust in e-commerce industry

Government is on the verge of implementing four new initiatives to bring back trust and transparency in the e-commerce industry. These four initiatives are: unique business identification numbers for any online and Facebook based businesses; a central complaint management system; a central logistic tracking system and an Interoperable digital transaction platform.

In a briefing today, State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak briefed the stakeholders and media about the progress of these initiatives which were being carried out by the Ministry of Commerce with the technical assistance of the ICT Division.

It was informed during the briefing that a Unique Business ID number, a requirement for anyone conducting business activities online, can soon be obtained from mygov.bd. This requirement will aid the government to locate businesses that are operating from even Facebook. The platform is currently ready for beta testing and the government is planning to open it up for everyone by March, said the State Minister.

Binimoy, the interoperable digital transaction is also ready to be launched in the first quarter of 2022. First of its kind, this platform will allow the flow of money from the wallet to the bank to the vendors- in all direction. "Mobile financial service provider bKash along with 15 banks have already signed up for the platform. This will eventually automate credit rating, credit scoring in the future", said Palak.

Central Complaint Management System, a centralised system to handle complaints in conjunction with the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection is also on the verge of being launched. "As we only have a few offices and manpower to manage the complaints right now, this platform will make room for online hearing and online investigation of complaints in the future", said A2i's Programme Advisor Anir Chowdhury.

Central logistical tracking platform, a centralised effort to bring vendors, payment gateways and delivery partners under one platform, is however is still pending, according to the State Minister. Post & Telecom Division was supposed to deliver this platform but has not been able to make progress so far. In case the platform is not ready by next week, ICT Division will prepare the platform in the next six months.