Most Promising Sectors to Investment in Bangladesh

Md. Joynal Abdin*

Business Consultant & Digital Marketer

Co-Founder & CEO of Bangladesh Trade Center

 

Business dynamics changes over decades, existing sectors meet their saturation and newer potential sectors comes up. Investors have to untapped emerging Sector to invest and gain from its growth opportunity. Longer the growth curve means longer the entrepreneurial gain. Intellectual businessmen usually diversify their business to enjoy growth in their maximum ventures. Maturity of business provides signals for taking preparation for the declining. Socioeconomic condition, changing reality of the economy, people’s expectation, cultural weave and finally market demand determine potentiality of a sector / product line.

In case of Bangladesh, economy is transforming from agriculture dependency into industrial dominancy situation. In such a condition industrial infrastructure like roads, transportation, waterways, airways, electricity, gas, capital machineries, skilled labor, managers, engineers, technicians, fright-forwarders, innovative business ideas, science and technological superiority, enabled business environment through enacting entrepreneurial friendly policy regime, smooth handling of international trade, international trade relations, so on and so forth.

In such a situation Bangladesh has to prepare a strong launching pad for safe take off with its aim to be a developed nation within 2030 to 2041. With these views in mind following sectors could be profitable for invest in the next decade:

 

1. Skill Development:

There are around 80,000 primary schools and 17,000 high schools enrolling 7.0 million students. Besides, there are over 1200 intermediate colleges, 38 public universities and 91 private universities in Bangladesh. Existing setup of the education institutes are producing graduates are producing in hundreds of disciplines every year. But a little number of these disciplines has hardly connection with professional arena. Professional linkage with the existing curriculums has to be established. Newer discipline has to be introduced as per demand of the business sectors.

Over 5% of the population of Bangladesh are unemployed the scenario of unemployed graduates is more dangerous. A recent report stated that about 47% of the graduates are unemployed in Bangladesh. About 2 million new jobseekers are entering into the job market each year. This is how unemployment queue is becoming longer day by day. This is because existing curriculums have far linkage with the demand of growing business sectors of Bangladesh. In this scenario public and private sector investment should be increased for drafting new curriculum as per demands of the private sector job fields to produce skilled manpower as per sector’s demand.

On the other hand, there are about 7 million Bangladeshi workers employed overseas now. They have contributed about USD 15.27 billion remittance in the year 2015. Most of these overseas migrates are less skilled or un-skilled. As a result they are drawing in measurable rate / very low wages compare to the Indian or Pakistani overseas employees. Training these overseas workers in specific trade with an international standard curriculum could give hundred times more remittance to Bangladesh.

Therefor investing in manpower capacity building both in higher education and in short term trade / certificate courses with demand driven curriculum could be one of the most profitable and result worthy business in coming days.

2. Overseas Employment:

Overseas employment or manpower export is one of the most contributory sectors to Bangladesh economy. At the same time we have enormous supply of manpower in hand to export in coming days. Therefore this sector deserves more attention for both public and private sector investment. Contribution of overseas employment sector in last ten years could be shown as below:

Table – 1: Overseas Employment and Remittance Trend.

Year	Total Overseas Employment	Total Remittance in million USD
2006	381,516	5,484.08
2007	832,609	6,562.71
2008	875,055	8,979.00
2009	475,278	10,717.73
2010	390,702	11,004,73
2011	568,062	12,168.09
2012	607,798	14,163.99
2013	409,253	13,832.13
2014	425,684	14,942.57
2015	555,881	15,270.99

Source: Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (2016). Overseas Employment and Remittance from 1976 to 2016.

From the table – 1 we could state that, number of overseas employment if decreasing over time though the remittance yearning in increasing. But why the number of overseas employment is decreasing could be studied further. I the number could be increased over time than this sector could be the highest foreign currency earning sector for Bangladesh.

Currently Bangladesh is exporting mostly workers. But with 47% unemployed graduates Bangladesh could think for professional exports as well. Public and private sector investment / initiative is needed to start exporting professionals like doctors, engineers, managers, nurses etc. In such case formal working environment has to be ensured through government to government negotiation.

Existing manpower recruitment agencies / travel agencies has to be modernized as HR consulting firms to deal with the higher educated people. Therefore overseas employment of professionals could be a very profitable as well as contributory sector for Bangladesh.

3. Energy Sector:

Earning self-sufficiency in energy sector including electricity, gas and other alternative sources is a prerequisite for industrial development. Electricity plays a vital role in economic development and increasing standard of living of the mass people. At present, Bangladesh has the installations with a capacity generate 13,095 Megawatt. Out of installed capacity actual production varies within 7,549 to 8,777 Megawatt, on December 07, 2016.

In Bangladesh exhaustible own source natural gas and imported source like oil are the main sources of generation of energy. Hydroelectric generation once provided a great deal of electricity worldwide. It was also the main source during Pakistani days and early days of Bangladesh. The shift to fossil fuels was a choice made on the basis of their temporary abundances and relatively low cost once technology made it possible for developed countries to drill and mine for those.

According to the Power System Master Plan 2010 of the government of Bangladesh it is forecasted that the demand for electricity would be as follows:

Table – 2: Forecasting about demands and supply of electricity.

Years	Government Policy Scenario		Comparison GDP7% Scenario		Comparison GDP6% Scenario
	Peak Demand [MW]	Generation (GWH)	Peak Demand [MW]	Generation (GWH)	Peak Demand [MW]	Generation (GWH)
2017	12,644	66,457	10,463	54,994	9,165	48,171
2018	14,014	73,658	11,300	59,393	9,689	50,925
2019	15,527	81,610	12,224	64,249	10,255	53,900
2020	17,304	90,950	13,244	69,610	10,868	57,122
2021	18,838	99,838	14,249	75,517	11,442	60,640
2022	20,443	109,239	15,344	81,992	12,056	64,422
2023	21,993	118,485	16,539	89,102	12,713	68,490
2024	23,581	128,073	17,840	96,893	13,416	72,865
2025	25,199	137,965	19,257	105,432	14,167	77,564
2026	26,838	148,114	20,814	114,868	14,979	82,666
2027	28,487	158,462	22,509	125,209	15,848	88,156
2028	30,134	168,943	24,353	136,533	16,776	94,053
2029	31,873	180,089	26,358	148,928	17,768	100,393
2030	33,708	191,933	28,537	162,490	18,828	107,207

Source: Power System Master Plan 2010, Government of Bangladesh.

Government alone could not organize resources for such a big amount of investment required to meet up the above target. Therefore power sector is opened up for private sector investment in electricity generation. This could be a lucrative sector for investment in upcoming days.

Renewable energy sources wind, water, biomass and solar power could offer a great amount of electricity to meet up this huge demand.

 

4. Agro-processing Sector:

Producing new products by processing (using technology or chemicals) agriculture crops is known as agro-processing. In other sentence we could state that, it is the techno-economic method for producing new products usable for people from the agricultural crops by using machine, applying technology for value addition. The produced new products are named agro-processed products. Agro-processing sector deals with the agro-processed products like, food, dairy, fish, fuel, feed etc. We deal in this report with the agro-processed products which are generally used by the people as food. The association, Bangladesh Agro-Processors’ Association (BAPA) is working with those who deal with agro-processed food products.

Product Produced:

In recent years, the entrepreneurs of agro-processing sector have been able to produce good number of processed products from the chiefly available local raw materials. Agro-processed products are: juice, drinks, biscuit, bread, chanachur, prepared nuts, fried peanuts, potato products- crackers, flakes, chips, starch, etc. rice, flour, flattened and puffed rice, confectionery goods, all kinds of spices, jam-jelly, marmalade, pickles, chutney, all kinds of sauces, vermicelli, rose water, nodules, extruded snacks, fruit bar, candy, bubble gum, loly-pop, kasundi, ruti, parata, purl, spring roll, singara, luchi, samusa, chatpati, chitoi-pitha, molasses, syrup, vinegar of sugarcane and date-juice, honey, cigarettes, biri, jarda, tea, mustard oil, coconut oil, milk powder, fresh milk, mineral water, flavored water, flavored milk, ghee, sweets, active drinks, lemon drinks, khichuri mix, chicken spices, tehari mix, chicken biryani, mutton biryani, jackfruit pickle, oil from rice polishing, vegetable juice, etc.

Current Trend:

The sector accounts for over 22% of all manufacturing production and employs about 20% of labor forces. All food processing enterprises account for 2% of the national GDP. Bangladesh Agro‐processors Association (BAPA) has now 370 members who are engaged in manufacturing, processing and exporting the products of this emerging sector.

From BAPA’s record, in 2011-12, the export was US$ 86.91 million and in 2012-13 the same was US$ 101.49 million. But in 2013-14 the export stood at nearly US$ 153.50 million. At present 100 types of processed food products are exported to nearly 104 countries, it shows competitive strength of agro-processing sector.

Major importing countries of Bangladeshi agro-processing products are the UAE, KSA, India, UK, USA, Bhutan, Malaysia, Kuwait, Singapore, Qatar, Somalia land, Nepal, Angola, Djibouti, Australia, Bahrain, Ghana, Senegal, Canada, Guinea Bissau, South Africa, Mauritania, Italy, Jordan, Belgium, Liberia, Maldives, Congo, China, Nigeria, Mayotte, Benin, Oman, Japan, Sierra Leone, Cyprus, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Burkina Faso, Sweden, Ecuador, Kenya, Loam Togo, Greece, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Korea, Germany, Iran, Cambodia, Sudan, Hong Kong, Spain, and Mauritius etc.

Only a few products are processing by using primary technologies or process. A large number of Bangladeshi agricultural crops are yet to be processed and commercialized. There is a great cope to diversify agro-processed sector having market demands in home and abroad. Therefor this sector deserves more investment and further diversifications.

5. Food Processing Sector:

Food processing is one of the largest agro-processing sub-sectors in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has a well-established food processing sector, which heavily relies on agricultural production. The sector accounts for 22% of total manufactured products, 20% of total labor forces and 5% of total GDP equal to around USD 4.48 billion [15]. Main focus of this sector is on domestic demand. Export of processed food products is limited and mainly targeted ethnic products, not the mainstream international markets. Besides scrimps main products are agriculturally based as oils and bakeries, but also fishery plays an important role.

Major subsectors of Bangladeshi processed food are Edible oil, Fisheries, Bakery products, Grain milling, Tea and Soft Drinks, Sugar Molasses, Dairy products, Fruits and vegetables, and other food products etc. Edible oil is the largest subsector account for 39% of processed food sector followed by Fisheries, Bakery, Tea and Soft drink etc. Composition of Bangladeshi processed food sector is as follows:

 

Figure – 1: Food Processing Sector in Bangladesh.

Source: Udenrigsministeriet, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark (Undated). Food Processing in Bangladesh.

There are nearly 700 processed food manufacturing enterprises in Bangladesh including brands like Teer, Olympia, Milk Vita, Fresh, and 7Up, Bombay, Ahmed, Bengal, Pran, Isphahani and Igloo. The processed food sector has grown 22% during the last 3 years and the growth is expected to continue as the industry is considered the most potential growth industry in Bangladesh.

From BAPA’s record, in 2011-12, the export was 86.91 mill US$ and in 2012-13 the same was USD 101.49 million. But in 2013-14 the export stood at nearly USD 153.50 million. At present 100 types of processed food products are exported to nearly 104 countries, which show competitive strength of our growing sector.

Major Countries for Exports : UAE, KSA, India, UK, USA, Bhutan, Malaysia, Kuwait, Singapore, Qatar, Somalia land, Nepal, Angola, Djibouti, Australia, Bahrain, Ghana, Senegal, Canada, Guinea Bissau, South Africa, Mauritania, Italy, Jordan, Belgium, Liberia, Maldives, Congo, China, Nigeria, Mayotte, Benin, Oman, Japan, Sierra Leone, Cyprus, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Burkina Faso, Sweden, Ecuador, Kenya, Loam Togo, Greece, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Korea, Germany, Iran, Cambodia, Sudan, Hong Kong, Spain, Mauritius etc.

Major Exported Products: Juice, Drinks, Puffed Rice, Snacks, Spices, Chanachur, Biscuits, Mustard Oil, Pickle, Frozen Vegetable, Semai, Potato Crackers, Nuts, Jam-jelly, Candy, Meat, Mango Bar, Molasses and Flattened Rice.

Till now export of this sectoral product goes to the non-resident Bangladeshi communities living abroad. But it has tremendous potentials to create demand among the foreign buyers if the companies could achieve international standard certification like ISO, HACCP FSMS etc. certifications. If Bangladeshi processed food could enter into foreigners market than the export amount will be increased hundred times more. So it is a potential sector to invest in and get optimum return out of it.

6. Infrastructure Development

Infrastructure is an essential sector for development of a country. Infrastructure can be divided into three major groups.

1. Transportation
2. Ports and Shipping
3. Water Supply, Sanitation

 

6.1 Transportation:

In Bangladesh, transportation has three broader   sub-categories namely road, railway, air, waterways. Road transportation has developed tremendously since independence. From about 1000 km pucca road at that time the country has now over 50,000 km of pucca road. International trade has increased many folds and there is traffic congestion not only in Dhaka and Chittagong City, it is frequently experienced on Dhaka-Chittagong Highway. On an urgent basis Dhaka Chittagong highway needs to be upgraded to four time highway. Three government agencies are involved in road transport development activities. These are Roads and Highways Department, Bangladesh Bridge Authority, and Local Government Engineering Department (LGED).

There were 97 projects with a total allocation of Tk. 11378 crore have been undertaken under RHD. The mega project construction of Padma Multipurpose Bridge with a total investment plan of Tk.10162 crore will start within this financial year under Bangladesh Bridge Authority. LGED have five projects worth Tk.1683 crore for construction and development of rural roads.

Railway once used to be the principal mode of transport in all parts of the country except Barisal Division. Since 1980s there is virtually no donor assisted development activity. For causes beyond imagination this very pro-people mode of transportation system has continuously been neglected. Recently interest of people has increased for this mode of transport. Railway is running on a meager budgetary allocation. There are 20 projects in current fiscal year worth Tk. 7319 crore.

A review of the projects shows that of the 20 projects only one project is financed by World Bank. This project is related to development of export infrastructure. The budget is Tk. 1140 crore out of which 850 crore is foreign exchange part. Of the projects only two are construction work relating to enhancing physical capacity of movement of trains. These two are

• Construction of double line track between Laksam and Chinki Astana.
• Construction of double line between Tongi and Bhairabbazar .

Other projects are either relating to procurement, rehabilitation or consultancy. Of the 20 projects 6 have financial support from JBIC;

6.2 Waterways:

Traditionally water transport was the main mode of transportation in Bangladesh. Waterway still provides the cheapest transportation for both passengers and goods. Barriers created by constructing unplanned roads and bridges and encroachment of rivers have reduced the total waterways drastically activities in Inland Water Transport system are managed by Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) and Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation (BIWTC). Rivers or their tributaries following beside the cities particularly Dhaka and Chittagong have forced to become narrow in width and water pollution increased to a level beyond imagination. The government has taken up plans to revive the rivers through demolition of illegal structures.

There were 4 projects with total budgetary allocation of Tk. 351 crore in BIWTA. Out of the projects of BIWTA and BIWTC only one project as project aid from South Korea. The negligible number of projects and the minimum amount of budgetary allocation indicates that the waterways subsector is neglected one.

River ways have been seriously affected due to siltation. For lack of dredging river erosion has become serious in some areas of the country. The government has taken up a massive plan to dredge rivers and the planned budget of Tk. 11000 crore. In the water sector this activity will be a continuous one. Therefore there will be continuous investment in this subsector.

Fatal accidents take place almost every year in river transportation. There is a need to minimize the number of accidents. A very inhuman situation is that in many cases the deal bodies cannot be rescued. Rescuer operations are abandoned quite often. There is no mention of this horrible situation in the development planning document of the Government. There should be projects on the following:

• Monitoring the load factor of launches before departure.
• Monitoring the fitness throughout the year.
• Improving Telecommunications System of river vehicles.
• Realistically strengthening the rescue operations after accidents.
• Improving Research & Development activities of both BIWT & BIWTC.

Maintaining river transport system operational is to the benefit of economy of Bangladesh because it is cheap mode of transportations.

6.3 Air Transport:

Bangladesh can be reached by air from any part of the world. The national flag carrier Biman of Bangladesh flies to 26 international and 8 domestic destinations [16]. Biman Bangladesh airlines connected Dhaka with 27 major cities of the world. They are- London, Muscat, Dhahran, Baghdad, Kuwait, Yangon, Bangkok, Mumbai, Calcutta, Doha, Dubai, Jeddah, Karachi, Kathmandu, Kualalumpur, Abu Dhabi, Amsterdam, Athens, Rome, Tripoli, Tokyo, Singapore, Bahrain, Frankfurt, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Sarjah, Seoul, Riyadh and Delhi. Biman, Bangladesh Airlines also connected Dhaka with major cities of Bangladesh, Chittagong, Jessore, Cox’s Bazar, Rajshahi Saidpur and Sylhet in its 7 domestic routes. There are total 11 airports in Bangladesh. These are Dhaka, Barisal, and Chittagong. Comilla, Cox’s Bazar, Ishurdi, Jessore, Rajshahi, Syedpur, Sylhet and Thakurgaon. The airports at Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet are international. Besides Biman, Air cargo and Short Take-off and Landing (STOL) services have been opened to the private sector by the government.

6.4 Sea Ports:

Sea port is essential for international trade. Bangladesh is fortunate enough to have two sea ports. International trade has increased has tremendously increased in Chittagong Port. Movement of ships through Mongla Port did not increase significantly. The recent regional understanding to use Chittagong and Mongla Ports for movements of goods to seven eastern states of India and the two SAARC countries Nepal and Bhutan will necessitate massive expansion of the two seaports.

6.5 Land Ports:

Bangladesh has land with India and Mairman through land ports. There are 17 land ports in Bangladesh. These are the Benapole, Teknaf, Banglabandha, Sonamasjid, Nakugaon, Bilonia, Hilli, Darshana, Birol, Burimari, Tamabil, Haluaghat, Akhaura, Bibirbazar, Bhomra, Gobrakora & Karaitoli land ports. Making land port functional needs larger investment by public or private sector.

 

7. Hospitals and clinics

The hospital and clinic service sector in Bangladesh is one of the promising sectors of Bangladesh. Local demand is much higher than that of the available supply. Healthcare is available through both the public sector and private sectors. Private hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centers are run according to a 1982 ordinance. There are more than 8,000 registered private hospitals, clinics and diagnostic centers in the country [17]. There are 583 are government hospitals and 2,501 registered non-government hospitals. There are also many unregistered private hospitals in the country. The total number of beds in the registered private hospitals and clinics are 42,237. Among the 8 divisions, Dhaka division has the highest number of tertiary hospital followed by Rajshahi with 26 such healthcare facilities. The Government of Bangladesh encourages foreign companies to partner with local companies for producing drugs, especially high-tech and specialized products [18].

According to the World Health Organization (WHO 2014) only about 3.7% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is spent on health services through both public and private sector expenditures. Life expectancy in Bangladesh is now nearly 70, where both India and Pakistan has 65. Although the percentage of GDP is being spent on the healthcare sector is relatively higher than it used to be but it is very small amount compared to developed countries which spend 8 to 12% of GDP. The total government contribution to health expenditure is even lower at 7.8%. However, government expenditure on health is only about 35.3% of the total health expenditure and the rest 64.7% being out-of-pocket (OOP) expenses. Inequity, therefore, is a serious problem affecting the health care system. There is significant room for market expansion as the country enters lower-middle income status. The fact that more than two-thirds of total health expenditure is out-of-pocket that is privately financed indicates that people are willing to pay for better healthcare.

 

Current Trend:

1. Public Sector Hospitals:

There are 53 District Hospitals with 7,850 bed facilities , 11 General Hospital with 1,350 beds, 5 infectious disease hospitals with 180 beds, 22 Medical / dental college hospitals with 11,960 beds, 7 Specialized hospitals with 2,330 beds, 1 medical university with 1500 beds.

2. Private Sector Hospitals:

In the private sector can be grouped into two main categories. First, the organized private sector (both for-profit and nonprofit) which includes qualified practitioners of different systems of medicine. Second, the private informal sector, which consists of providers practicing in rural areas not having any formal qualifications such as untrained allopath, homeopaths, kobiraj. According to Asia Pacific Observatory on Public Health Systems and Policies, there are 2,983 private hospitals and clinics registered as of 2013. The total number of beds provided by the private sector is 45,485 (as of 2013).

3. Diagnostic Centers:

Along with private clinics and hospitals, the number of diagnostic centers in the private sector is growing. In 2012, approximately 5,122 laboratories and other diagnostic centers were registered with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW, 2012). In the private for-profit sector, there are some large diagnostic centers in the cities (Lab Aid, Ibn Sina, Popular and Medinova) providing laboratory and specialized radiological tests. Some of these facilities maintain a high standard.

4. Donors, NGOs and Professional Groups:

Bangladesh is known worldwide for having one of the most dynamic NGO sectors, with 2,471 NGOs registered with NGO Affairs Bureau working in the population, health and nutrition sector (as of 2014). NGOs have been active in health promotion and prevention activities, particularly at the community level, and in family planning, maternal and child health areas.

All the above mentioned hospitals and clinics are mainly located at the capital city Dhaka, and other divisional cities in Bangladesh. Most of the district cities have healthcare facilities but without emergency / ICU facilities. There is a scope to establish modern hospitals facilities in district level with ICU facilities. Besides there is a demand for modern diagnostic facilities in Upazila levels as well. There is only one child hospital located at Dhaka for serving needs of the whole country. Similarly other specialized hospitals are mainly located at Dhaka. Therefore at least divisional towns are deserving specialized hospital facilities either by public sector or private sector investors.

 

8. Telecommunication Sector

The liberalization of Bangladesh’s telecommunications sector began with small steps in 1989 with the issuance of a license to a private operator for the provision of inter alia cellular mobile services to compete with Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB), the previous monopoly provider of telecommunications services within Bangladesh. Significant changes in the number of fixed and mobile services deployed in Bangladesh occurred in the late 1990s and the number of services in operation has subsequently grown exponentially in the past five years.

The incentives both from government and public sectors have helped the industry grow and it is now one of the biggest industries in Bangladesh. As a populous country, its huge market has attracted many foreign investors. Major milestone of Bangladesh telecommunication sector are:

 

Table – 3: Milestones of Bangladesh telecommunication sector.

Year	Details
1853	Telegraph branch under Posts and Telegraph Department, British India.
1971	Reconstructed as Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Department under Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications.
1975	Reconstructed as Telegraph and Telephone Board.
1979	Reconstructed as Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) with right to issue license for telecom and wireless services.
1981	Digital Telex Exchange in Bangladesh.
1983	Automatic Digital ITX started in Dhaka.
1985	Coin box Telephone service introduced in Bangladesh by BTTB.
1989	GENTEX Telegraph messaging service introduced in Bangladesh.
1989	Bangladesh Rural Telecom Authority got license to operate exchanges in 200 upazilla.
1989	Sheba Telecom got license to operate exchange is 199 upazilla.
1989	Cellular mobile phone company Pacific Bangladesh Telephone Limited and Bangladesh Telecom got license.
1995	Card Telephone service introduced in Bangladesh by BTTB and TSS.
1995	Regulatory power of BTTB transferred to Ministry (MoPT).
1995	2nd and 3rd ITX installed in Dhaka.
1996	GrameenPhone got cellular mobile Telephone license.
1996	Telecom Malaysia International Bangladesh got cellular mobile license.
1998	Telecom Policy.
2000	Global Telecom Service (GTS) Telex Exchange venture with British Telecom.
2001	Telecommunication Act, to establish Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC).
2002	ICT Policy.
2004	Teletalk cellular mobile launched.
2005	Egypt-based Orascom acquired Sheba Telecom
2006	NGN introduced in BTTB.
2008	BTTB converted into Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL) with 100% shares owned by Government. The Submarine Cable Project transformed into Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Limited (BSCCL)
2008	Japanese NTT DoCoMo bought 30 percent stake in Aktel
2009	Bharti Airtel acquired 70 percent stake in Warid Telecom
2009	Internet Protocol Telephony Service Provider (IPTSP) Operators launched.
2010	Aktel rebranded to Robi Axiata Limited
2012	3G mobile service is introduced by state owned Teletalk in October.
2013	3G auction held for private companies
2014	64 districts covered with 3G by Grameenphone, Banglalink and Robi

Source: Tele Info (2016). History of Telecom Industry in Bangladesh. Link is http://tele.info-bd.com/telecommunications-in-bangladesh cited on November 11, 2016

Currently, there are six mobile operators in Bangladesh with Grameenphone (GP) as the market leader with 42% share of a total of 126.87 million (BTRC June ‘15). Among other operators Banglalink has 26%, Robi 22%, Airtel 7%, Teletalk 2% and Citicell 1% of market share.

Till now data service is available at town levels only. Speed in most of the places is very slow due to the poor infrastructure. Call rate and data package both are expensive in Bangladesh. On the other hand Bangladesh is entering into global outsourcing market with its services providing professionals. High speed internet connectivity has to be ensured to support outsourcing sector. Therefore there is a need for further investment in Bangladesh telecommunication sector. It could be backward linkage sector for outsourcing sector.

9. Pharmaceuticals sector

Pharmaceutical is one of the SME Booster Sectors having special attention of the policy makers due to its growth potentials. In 1970s three fourth of the pharmaceutical industries was dominated by multinational companies. Local pharmaceutical companies started initiation in 1980s and grown in the last two decades at a considerable rate. The National Drug Policy (NDP) in 1982 and 2005 has major impact in the development and growth of the Bangladesh pharmaceutical sector of Bangladesh.

Bangladeshi pharmaceutical industry is dominating by the local manufacturers. Local vs. multinational companies has 97% vs. 3% market shares. Top ten market leaders of Bangladeshi pharmaceuticals sector are local companies. Square and Incepta pharma have 30% of local market shares.  The size of the retail market reached BDT 84.0 billion (US$ 1.136 billion) as on 2011 based on IMS health Bangladesh (Haroon, 2012). The report additionally stated that, retail sales in domestic market achieved 23.59% growth in 2011 which is following 23.8% and 16.8% growth in 2010 and 2009 respectively. This industry has an annual growth rate of 10.2% during the fiscal year 2002. The values fell by 4.3% in 2003. The lower growth rate showed in 2003 and 2004 is largely because of country’s economic recession. Again the growth rate increased by 9% in 2005. The growth rate of 2005 was 17.5%. In recent times the growth rate has been literally doubled which is 23.59% in 2011 [20].

According to the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA), there are currently 200 active allopathic companies in Bangladesh. About 22,000 brands of drugs are sold which cover 1500 types of medication. There are 1495 wholesale drug license holders and about 37700 retail drug license holders. The industry meets 98% of the demand for medication in the country and can be considered to be self-sufficient.

The sector employs 1, 15,000 workers and between 2013 and 2014, the growth stood around 11.37%. According to IMS Health, annual pharmaceutical sales in the local market may reach BDT 160 billion within 2018 [21].

 

Current Trend:

According to IMS Health, the top 10 companies hold 68.5% market share, the top 20 hold 85.73%, and the top 31 hold 94.1%, while the remaining 169 companies shared 5.9% among them. Square Pharmaceuticals led the industry with a market share of 19.21%. Incepta and Beximco took 2nd and 3rd positions with market shares of 10.42% and 8.47% respectively.

Currently, formulations are exported to 107 countries around the world. The major destinations for Bangladeshi medicines are Germany, USA, France, Italy, UK, Canada, Netherlands, Denmark, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Kenya, while nearly 50 countries import Bangladeshi medicines regularly. The growth in exports has averaged over 10% from 2010 to 2014. In 2015, the exports were over $ 41.17 million. Pharmaceutical companies are trying to export to regulated, unregulated and moderately regulated markets.

10. Tourism and Hospitability

Bangladesh has great tourism potential. It is potential in terms of continuous economic growth, strategic location for regional connectivity, enriched natural and historical beauty, diversified landscape including plain lands, hills, rivers and sea sights etc.   It has green plain land, medium-height hilly range with evergreen trees, sandy sea beaches and the largest mangrove forest in its beauty basket. With such land diversity it has ethnic diversity of people, religious varieties, cultural differences and different life styles of the people.

Direct contribution of tourism into Bangladesh GDP was 2.2 per cent in 2014, which is expected to grow to about 4.7 per cent by 2024 according to the projection of WTTC. This level puts Bangladesh at a rank of 165, whereas countries like Thailand and Malaysia are ranked at 35 and 41, and neighboring India ranked at 135. The total contributions of the tourism sector to GDP for the abovementioned countries are respectively – Thailand (20.2 per cent of GDP); Malaysia (16.6 per cent of GDP) and India (6.2 per cent of GDP.) These statistics suggests that Bangladesh needs to improve its performance significantly over the medium term to attain the target achieved by India.

Similarly the tourism sector has so far generated about 3 million jobs in 2014, and is projected to generate up to 4 million jobs by 2024. Thus the contribution of tourism sector in total employment is around 4 per cent and according to the WTTC projections it may reach 4.3 by 2024. The projections however are not very promising as it suggests only 0.3 per cent increase in employment generation over the next 10 years’ time period.

Bangladesh’s beauty basket contains beautiful landscape like, Bisanakandi at Sylhet, Sangu River at Thanchi in Bandarban, tea gardens in Srimongol, Bhawal National Park in Gazipur, Himchari National Park in Cox’s Bazar, Kaptai National Park in Chittagong Hill Tracts, Lawachara National Park in Moulavibazar etc. Its archeological excellence includes Lalbagh Fort in Dhaka, Ahsan Manzil in Dhaka, Shalbon Bihar in Kotbari, Comilla, the War Cemetery in Moynamati, Comilla, Mahasthan­garh in Bogra, Shat Gombuj Mosque in Bagherhat, Tajhat Palace in Rangpur, Paharpur Bihar in Naogan, Kantoji Temple in Dinajpur, Puthia Palace in Rajshahi, and Suna Mosque in Chapai Nawabgaonj etc. Beautiful sea beaches like Cox’s Bazar Sea Beach, Patenga Sea Beach in Chittagong, Teknaf Sea Beach in Cox’s Bazar, Saint Martin’s sea beach in Cox’s Bazar, Kuakata Sea Beach in Patuakhali etc.

Bangladesh is having diversified and rich religious attractions like Mazar of Hazrat Shah Jalal (Rh.) and  Shah Poran (Rh.) in Sylhet, Shah Mostafa (Rh.) in Moulvibazar, Khan Jahan Ali (Rh.) in Bagherhat, Shah Mokhdum (Rh.) in Rajshahi, Baro Awlia in Chittagong etc. All these are considered as holy places by the Muslim community. Bangladesh is also home to religious heritages of the Hindu community like Dhakeshwari Temple in Dhaka, Joy Kali Temple in Dhaka, Kantaji Temple in Dinajpur, Chandranath Temple in Chittagong, Dhamrai Jagannath Roth in Dhamrai, Boro Kali Bari Temple in Mymensingh, Comilla Jagannath Temple in Comilla, Adinath Temple, Moheshkhali, Cox’s Bazar and Bhabanipur Shaktipeethin Bogra, etc. There are places in Bangladesh carrying memories of famous Buddhist Saint Atish Dipankar and many more.

Bangladesh could easily attract more local and foreign tourists if transportation, housing, and security system could be improved to the tourist spots. Private sector investment could play a vital role in development of tourism in Bangladesh if government policy inspires private investors to do so.

Most Promising Sectors to Investment in Bangladesh, This is the summary of a chapter of the book “Most Prospective Sectors to Invest in Bangladesh” of the Author. To purchase the book click here.

11. Organic Fertilizer, Seeds, Insecticides

For production of crops fertilizer, seeds and insecticides are important elements. The country depends heavily on use of chemical fertilizers for its agriculture. Use of mega granules   urea (guti-urea) has optimized the efficiency of use of fertilizers.

There is also some use of organic fertilizer. There is no reliable data available on use of organic fertilizer in agriculture in Bangladesh. To make a balance in production of health hazard free crops some NGOs are encouraging entrepreneurs to produces organic fertilizer through use cow dung, water-hyacinth etc. However this can be a subject of another research activity.

Seed is the main input of agricultural production. Yield level of a crop depends on the quality of seed. Preservation of seed has been an age old practice in Bangladesh. Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC) has played significant role in popularizing the systematic production and storage of seeds. There are seed multiplication farms and contract rowers through whom BADC participants in seeds production. The seeds are usually paddy, wheat, potato, jute, oil seed, pulse, maize and vegetables. The farmers can enhance their income by participating in production of seeds.

All agricultural crops are attached by diseases and pest of different types. Paddy is attacked by black bug, fruits fly attack jackfruit, guava, tomato, mango is attacked by bats, cabbage and vegetables are attacked by diamond back moth, rats attack almost all types of crops. To protect the growing crops and vegetables farmers use different type’s insecticides. The use of insecticides beyond limit is harmful for public health. Almost all the insecticides imported from abroad.

The agricultural scientists have found out that all insects that are seen in a farm or a garden are harmful, some are friendly to the crop and vegetables and some are harmful.  To protect the crop from the attack of pests the agricultural scientists have developed Integrated Pest Management (IPM) methods. In Bangladesh the Directorate of Agriculture Extension (DAE) has been implementing progress on IPM. There can be more investment on research and development of IPM. The government’s import policy allows for import insecticides and the imports have to be declared to DAE and need to be used according to Pesticides Rules, 1985.

12. Consultancy and Business Support Service

Consultancy is an industry in developed and advanced developing economies. Organization seeks services of consultants both during strong growth of the economy and during a recession. An organization seeks services of consultants for two reasons (i) it can afford the consultants and (ii) Consultants can advise than how to spread their business. During a recession, organizations turn to consultants for advice on how to cut costs, save money and weather the economic storm.

In Bangladesh consultancy services are sought and used mostly by big investment projects. Due to interaction with international market public sector organization are also seeking the services of consultants. But consultancy has not taken any shape of an industry or so there is crisis of consultants. Usually the consultancy organization can be divided into following four categories:

• Engineering Consultancy Firm.
• Management and Socio-economic Consultancy Firms.
• Chartered Accountancy and Audit Firms.
• Business Support Services.

Usually clients look for two types of consultants: (i) those who emphasize their problem solving ability and (ii) those that help client help improve their performance. Clients seek hire consultants because they may lack expertise and knowledge or they cannot afford their time and rather than doing the job they take services of the consultants.

There is a difference between an expert and a successful consultant. A successful consultant is one who translates his or her expert knowledge into useful applications for clients. The skills need of a successful consultant fall into four major categories: Technical skills, communications skills, interpersonal skills and Administrative skills. Any one skill alone will not help one to become a successful consultant. Bangladesh is in seriously lack of export consultants. There are firms but they do not have the minimum services conditions to attract young talented people to take up consultancy as a profession.

There are no consultancy firms in Bangladesh offering business startup support services like registrations and licensing, project profile and financing, linkage with forward and backward processes, one stop service for technology selection, commissioning and operations. Such types of consultancy services could play a pivotal role in increasing the speed of economic development in Bangladesh. New investment could be worthwhile in this sector.

13. Light Engineering Sector

Light engineering sector occupies a unique position in the Bangladesh economy. It prudently acts as feeder of support industries to all other industries and plays a vital role in the socio-economic development of the country. Therefore, it is known as the mother of heavy industries. This sector has potentials to make significant contribution towards technological and economic development along with wide opportunities for employment generation.

There are about 40,000 Light Engineering enterprises in all over the country. Around 6 lack people are directly involved with the light engineering sector. It is engaged with production and manufacturing of highly value added engineering goods and services with the value of annual turnover more than TK. 10,000 crore. In recognizing this fact, government has declared this sector as a thrust sector in its Industry Policy –2010.

Products Produced:    

Major products of this sector are Agricultural Machinery & Spares,         Motor launch & Marine Transport Spares,      Textile Machinery & Spares, Jute Machinery & Spares,             Tea plant Machinery & Spares, Construction Machinery & Spares,           Bread, Biscuit and Food Processing Machinery & Spares, Metal Furniture, Paper and Pulp Machinery & Spares, Mold & Dies, Components & Spares of Gas Transmission & Distribution, Printing & Packaging Machinery & Spares, Poultry Machinery & Spares,  Kitchen Wear & Bathroom Fittings, Metal Product & Hard Ware, LP Gas Cylinder & Fire Extinguisher, and Pharmaceutical Machinery & Spares etc.

Current trend of the sector:

Since the development of the sector, entrepreneurs are providing its products and services to local market. LES keeps the national economy running through offering cost-effective maintenance services and much-required spares & capital machinery. Light engineering industry has two segments of market i.e. local market and export market. In the local demand, there is a secular growth around 30% per annum. Size of local market is around US$2billion.

In the mean-time, local light engineering industry has stepped their presence in export market. The major products include iron sheet, G.I. pipe, cast iron articles, aluminum household articles, iron chain, SS ware, machineries, diesel engine, motor parts, bicycle, light fittings, dry cell battery.

This sector has option for further expansion into manufacturing of made in Bangladesh electrical and electronics goods for local market as well as for the export market. So further investment could be result worthy in this sector.

 

14. Software Development and IT Enabled Services Sector

Bangladesh economy is transforming into a digital version. The Government of Bangladesh is committed to develop a digital Bangladesh soon. Therefor Software development could be one of the most progressive sectors of Bangladesh. According to BASIS survey, there are over 800 registered software and ITES (IT Enabled Service) companies in Bangladesh. There are another few hundred of unregistered small and home-based software and IT ventures doing business for both local and international markets.

IT Enables Service (ITES) is one of the growing sectors of Bangladesh. The ITeS sector of Bangladesh has grown considerably in recent years. Today, it counts more than 1,500 registered ITeS service providers employing over 250,000 ICT professionals. Total ITeS revenue generated by the country reached approximately US$600 million for the period 2013-2014, with export revenue accounting for US$250 million, including the freelance outsourcing segment [20].  Industry estimates have pegged the ITO sector to comprise a vast majority of services exports, with industry stakeholders estimating that ITO comprising upwards to 90% of total services exports. Though the country’s BPO sector has continued to grow, it has remained focused on servicing the domestic market. Though this may be the current scenario, Tholons believes that there lies opportunity for both the ITO and BPO (particularly for non-voice BPO services) spaces to expand more aggressively in the global market. As previously implied, for this to happen, specific supply-side inhibitors must be purposely addressed.

Majority of ITO service providers in the country specialize in the Customized Software Development and IT Enabled Services service groups, comprising 56% and 17% of BASIS members, respectively. As of December 14, 2015 – BASIS counts 986 member companies under its fold.

Currently, the majority of Bangladesh IT/ITeS providers, as found by BASIS, depend on the domestic market as a primary revenue source, with 63% of members focused on providing services to local industries.  Local demand is reported to be driven by companies seeking to improve business processes and adopt global ‘IT Best Practices,’ a relatively recent trend, only beginning to spread in the country.  In a 2014 survey carried out by BASIS of around 110-member service providers, the majority of providers delivering services to the domestic market were focused on developing business application solutions including ERP, Accounting Software, HR Software, Sales Automation, and Inventory Management systems, among others.

 

Figure – 2: Different Segments of ITES Sector in Bangladesh.

Source: BASIS (2014). Catalogue of BASIS.  

15. Leather Goods Sector

Leather goods sector is one of the fastest growing sectors of Bangladesh economy. It employed about 1, 80,000 (One lac eighty thousand) people directly. This sector includes about 3,500 micro, small and medium leather goods factories with about 110 large industries. This sector divided into two major heads i.e. leather processing units called tanneries, leather goods like shoe, bag, belt etc. manufacturers called leather goods factories. There are about 220 to 250 tanneries in Bangladesh mostly located at Hazaribagh area of Dhaka city. As a Muslim majority country Bangladesh used to produce a huge amount of leathers every year mainly during the Eid ul Azha.

There are a good number of leather goods clusters around the country mainly located at Dhaka, Bhairab, Satkhira, Chittagong and Brahmanbaria. In Bhairab, about 3000 SME workshops are situated. All of these workshops are dealing with footwear production. Almost all workshops are mostly manual (lasting process is done by hand). Around 25,000 people are working in these workshops but the female employment is almost absent.

Product Produced:

Major Bangladeshi leather goods are pocket or hand bags, includes purses, wallets, key case, passport case, note case, card case, cigarette case, cigar case, match box case, hand bags, shopping bags, shoulder bags, document cases, attach cases, belts, wallets, shoe, and foot wears etc.

Current Trend:

Only 15 – 18 % of total leather production of Bangladesh can meet up local demand for leather goods. Rest of the amount is export oriented. The leather and leather goods sector is the fourth largest export earning sector of Bangladesh. Export earning of this sector is rising with about 48% growth per year. Bangladesh earned USD 1.29 billion by exporting leather goods in 2013-14 fiscal years. SD Asia forecasted that, very soon this export could be increased into USD 15 billion.