Tax burden stymies publishing companies’ business

Country's Tk 9.50 billion publication sector has been witnessing a robust growth over the years although the tax burden hits the publishing companies hard, sector insiders said.
According to them, the number of publishers and booksellers has now almost doubled to reach around 25,000 compared to nearly 12,000 in 2011. Besides, the market size of publication and books also jumped by Tk 5 billion to Tk 9.50 billion in 2016 from its earlier size Tk 4.50 billion in 2011.
"Apart from rise in market size and traders, the number of published books has also marked a significant rise driven by the ever-growing students, readers and academicians across the country," said Alamgir Mallik, Vice-President of Bangladesh Publishers & Book-Sellers Association.
Malik, also the owner of Brightstar Publication and Aaro Prokashon, said productions and sales of most of the publishers and book  traders across the country have been gradually showing the rising trend because of growing demand for academic, supportive, reference and practice books.
Md Shariful Alam, another Vice-President of Bangladesh Publishers & Book-Sellers Association said nearly one million people of the country are directly or indirectly involved with the knowledge industry.
He, however, lamented that the sector could not reach its full potential as successive governments since the birth of this country neglected it repeatedly.
Alam, also the Deputy Managing Director of Lecture Publications, said the sector could have witnessed further growth provided some policy supports are made by the government.
About the existing policy shortcomings, he said the sector has not yet been declared an industry although it has significant contributions to the country's education as well as the economy.
Besides, he added, higher import duty on paper and existing provision for obtaining approval from the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) to publish any kind of book also hinders its normal pace.
"We have been urging the government for many years to give us the recognition of an industry so that we can legally and formally conduct various activities and take advantage of international market," he added.
Alam stressed that recognition as an industry could enable the traders to publish books written by foreign writers and thereby ensure quality and minimise costs.
"It is seen in India, Vietnam and Indonesia that they are now publishing various kinds of books written by the USA, UK and Australian writers and thereby earning significant amount of foreign currency. This has been possible as they have got legal recognition as industry. But in Bangladesh we are being deprived of enjoying the opportunity while the country is also being deprived of earning foreign currency only in absence of such a recognition," he observed.
He also said that the market size will increase multiple times if such international benefits can be reaped.
Humayun Kabir, a director of Bangladesh Publishers & Book-Sellers Association, said "since the sector is not recognized as an industry, we have to pay up to 65 per cent tax on paper import and 35 per cent tax on gross profit, which creates a huge burden on us".
Mohammad Golam Elahi Jayed, another Director of Bangladesh Publishers & Book-Sellers Association, told the FE that the country's Education Ministry recently imposed some awful restrictions on publication traders, which have been hindering normal pace of the sector.
"Now the publishers have to take approval from the NCTB to publish any book which seems totally irrational as it creates bureaucratic tangle and is also time-consuming," he added.
Jayed, also the owner of Makka, Kheya and Racks Publication, was of the opinion that it's not possible for the NCTB to work on such a huge volume of books put forth by different publishers on a regular basis. The Board, he thinks, does not have any capacity to ensure prompt actions.
"We are trying round the clock to ensure speedy publication aiming at meeting the growing needs of the students and readers, but how can we ensure it if such kind of policy stands in our way?" he said.
He also questioned why the NCTB should approve all kinds of books if publishers do strictly obey the rules and regulations as prescribed by the Ministry of Education.
Meanwhile, some of the Bangladesh Publishers & Book-Sellers Association representatives told the FE that they held talks with the Education Minister on a number of occasions and also with other authorities concerned to help realise their demands.
They said their struggle was on although the Minister and the authorities concerned assured them of meeting their demands.
Some other sectors like book binding, printing and paper merchandising are directly related to this important sector.
Country's publication business took off immediately after the War of Independence in 1971 with the establishment of Puthighar and Muktodhara by Chittaranjan Das.
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