High paid-up capital for OPCs hampering SME growth: BUILD

Business leaders have expressed concern over the high paid-up capital requirement for one-person companies (OPCs) enforcement of which has been hampering the predicted rise in SME-based OPC. 

During a courtesy call on the Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi on Thursday at the ministry, Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD) Chairperson Nihad Kabir urged the minister to eliminate the provision of the present Tk25 lakh minimum paid-up capital requirement for one-person companies and make it like the private companies and reconsider the minimum and maximum limit. 

She also suggested the abolition of the provision for a commercial address considering the business type of e-commerce or f-commerce companies when applying for a trade licence to facilitate the companies to operate their business properly throughout the country.

Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dhaka President Mohammad Saiful Islam appreciated the government's move for extension of the trade-license validity upto five years from the previous one year to reduce the hassles faced during the annual renewal process of these certifications which involves considerable time and effort that, in turn, affects the ease of doing business.    

He stressed on following the example by other agencies and making the trade license issuance process simple at the union and municipality levels.

Saiful Islam proposed to collect all the fees for five years through the relevant tax office by digitising the trade licensing process.

BUILD CEO Ferdaus Ara Begum said that the notification for five years term trade licence by the local government department (LGD) is a great move. But the announcement was not meant for the municipalities and union parishads which is still a concern for many entrepreneurs. 

She further said that BUILD and the commerce ministry have jointly prepared an export roadmap for plastic, leather and light engineering sectors, with a target to export $22 billion, $12.9 billion, and $12.56 billion, respectively by 2030. 

Underscoring the need for implementing the roadmap's action plans, she said that the commerce ministry could take the lead and contribute to the country's export basket. 

Tipu Munshi said his ministry would continue its advocacy with other ministries to simplify the process of obtaining certificates and registration, including five-year trade licences to ensure ease of doing business. 

As part of it, the ministry issued a notice in November 2022 to provide import registration certificate (IRC) and export registration certificate (ERC) for five years instead of one year, the minister said.

Referring to the BUILD request for full automation of the registrar of joint stock companies and firms (RJSC) services, he said, "We will go for full-scale automation, and be going through internal reforms of some issues to become a paperless office in delivering faster business registration services online."