ICT Business Promotion Council (IBPC)

Creation: IBPC was formed in 2004 under the goal of the government, pronounced under Export Policy, 2003-06, to promote sectorial development of the exportable goods with a view to diversify exports. The Council is operated through the partnership between the private sector and the government under the Companies Act.

Vision of the Council: Promoting the local market capacity of ICT sector which will lead to generate an export market in Global premises. 

Council Objectives: IBPC’s aim is to build capacity activities in respect of improving human resources, acquiring appropriate technology, information about markets, attaining quality and standards, complying with international norms or codes of conducts, etc. Thus the prime objective of forming the Council is to promote the sector to achieve competency in the local and global context as well as to help the industry building capacities in the fields of human resources and acquiring technologies.

Authority of the Council: According to clause 3.0 of the AOA, the Council has the power to affiliate, admit membership, takeover, assist and to receive assistance from any other society, council, association, company, corporation, firm, government, Chamber of Commerce & Industry, international organization, partnership of persons promoting or intending to promote any of the objectives of the Council.

Association Members of the Council:

The following five industry associations are general member of the Council:

1. Bangladesh Association of Software & Information Services (BASIS);
2. Bangladesh Computer Samity (BCS);
3. Internet Service Provider Association of Bangladesh (ISPAB);
4. Bangladesh Call Center & Outsourcing Association (BACCO);
5. e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB);

An Introduction to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Services Locally & GloballyInformation and Communication Technology (ICT) service sector has strong growth potential in Bangladesh because of availability of a large number of educated youths with bright aptitude and ability in software development. With a population over 160 million and literacy rate over 70 percent; it is widely argued that Bangladesh could leapfrog into developed nation status through development of the ICT service sector. The government of Bangladesh has thus given high priority to the development of this sector, and therefore, the “Digital Bangladesh” initiative has made a significant progress since 2009 towards access to ICT services, which appears to be instrumental to reaching out to the larger population through technology and creating domestic demand for IT services.

Today, the world is going through the fourth industrial revolution which is known as digital revolution (World Economic Forum 2017)1. In the era of the Digital or Knowledge Based Economy, Information technology is the leading driving force for the economic growth and good quality life (Atkinson, Castro, 2008). ICT reduces the cost of transaction and increases the possibility of economic growth by escalating the economies of scale. In 2008, the current Government of Bangladesh came up with A Charter of Change by declaring its Vision 2021 aiming at developing the country into a resourceful and modern economy through efficient use of information and communication technology (GED, 2012). Copious actions have been taken by the government to implement the vision since 2009. Bangladesh has made important strides in utilizing technology to bring the tangible transformation in developing human resources, connecting citizen’s doorsteps and making the market effective and competitive through digital technology (Seventh Five Year Plan, November, 2015).

International trade in ICT services grew much faster than that of ICT goods, increasing fourfold in current price dollar terms to almost USD 400 billion between 2001 and 2013 (OECD, 2013). In particular, the share of Computer and Information services almost doubled from 3.4% to 5.8% of world exports of services, while that of Telecommunication services increased marginally. For the OECD, the combined share of Computer and Information and Communication services rose from 5.8% to 8.3% of total service exports. However, the change in classification in 2007 renders interpretation of detailed trends and changes in trade difficult for that year. As with trade in ICT goods, a few economies account for a significant share in global exports of ICT services, with some major shifts in recent years. Ireland is the leading exporter of computer and information services, followed by India, which started from a very modest level. China is also becoming a major exporter of ICT services along with Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. Together, these countries account for more than 60% of total exports of ICT services. In the current digital era, development and usage of information technology (IT) account for economic growth of a nation. The vast majority of econometric estimates find that ICT has a positive effect on growth. On average, the studies consulted show that a 10% increase in ICT investment results in a growth in output of 0.5–0.6%. In the last few years, this growth effect has actually been higher. Kretschmer (2008) estimated the contribution of ICT to productivity through Cobb-Douglas production function where output was measured as the gross value added. Many studies show that the labor productivity is likely to be high in the knowledge based economy like North America and Europe. Growth accounting can be used to breakdown the productivity growth into its input elements. Jorgenson & Oliner (2001) and Sichel (2000) provided early discussions of the role of information technology in the productivity acceleration. According to the white paper of Digital Europe (2007), Integration of digital technology into our personal and professional lives helps create growth, increase productivity and improve quality of life. Hardly any study so far has been conducted on the ICT sector of Bangladesh. Therefore, no analysis and benefits of trade have been done that account for ICT industry, in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the competitors and take effective strategies accordingly. Thus, the actual potential of the sector is yet to be addressed properly. Researchers from different countries have attempted to develop models to trace the factors contributing to this sector. The models/frameworks so far have attempted to club the factors under broad categories to frame a generalized structure, capable of explaining the dynamics emerging from the interaction of the factors that ultimately resulted in competitive advantage for countries in software and allied sectors (Bhattacharjee & Chakrabarti, 2015). Developing countries like Bangladesh may face a trade-off between specializing according to existing comparative advantage (in-low technology goods), entering sectors which they currently lack a comparative advantage, but may acquire such an advantage in the future as a result of the potential productivity growth in-high technology good (Redding, 1999)5. In some studies, competitive advantage analysis is considered as pertinent in order to stay ahead of the world competition.

Contact us:

ICT Business Promotion Council (IBPC)

Ministry of Commerce

BFIDC Building (8th Floor)

73, Motijheel Commercial Area, Dhaka-1000
Phone: +88-02-9514434-35
Fax: +88-02-47118669
E-mail: faysalcs@gmail.com

Web: bbpc.portal.gov.bd