Government preparing hold-all business register

The government is at work to create a hold-all business register to collate information of country's all industries and trade outfits under a single umbrella for ready availability of their statistics.
"A statistical business register is very important for our country. Such register is a valuable basic database on a country's trade and industry," a senior official of planning ministry told the FE.
The inventory will be updated regularly so that necessary information on trade and industry is obtained properly. The statistical businesses register will be totally modern and digital.
It would contribute to preparing country's necessary policies, laws and acts, he added.
Firstly, the register will be made on a pilot basis, as per decision made at an inter-ministerial meeting held with secretary of Statistics and Informatics Division KM Mozammel Hoq in the chair last month.
"We have to keep in mind that the business community in the country should not be scared during the preparing of the business register," the secretary said in the meeting.
There are no accurate statistics of the country's trade and business. Besides, a significant number of trade and business organizations are operating sans licence. For this, there is no way to calculate their contribution to the country's gross domestic product (GDP), he pointed out.
In his view, it is an urgent need to have a modern and time-befitting statistical business register to put all trade and business firms together in the GDP basket.
The National Board of Revenue (NBR), the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSCF) of Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) and Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) are important stakeholders in the country because they are playing a vital role in industrialization across the country.
The Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dhaka (MCCI) and other business associations could help the government initiative see a success
Currently, there is no integrated database on the country's trade and industry. There are a good number of companies registered with the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms. Approximately 0.15 million companies are registered with the RJSCF.
Md. Shafiul Islam Mohiuddin, President of the FBCCI, could not be contacted despite several attempts over the phone and SMS for taking his comments on the move.
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