Increase tax incentive to bring blue-chips to capital market: BSEC chair

Non-listed blue-chip companies will be interested in the capital market if they are provided with more tax incentive, said Professor Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam, chairman of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) on Tuesday.

He made the remark at a press briefing about the upcoming conference titled "The Rise of Bengal Tiger: Potentials of Bangladesh Capital Markets" organised by the regulator.

A roadshow marking the event will be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates from 9 to 12 February.

Expatriate investors, foreign investors, institutional investors and small groups of investors will take part in the conference that will highlight various issues including economic development and investment prospects of Bangladesh, investment opportunities and availability of facilities.

Professor Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam claims that blue-chip companies do not usually feel interested in joining the regulatory framework.

If a company gets listed with the stock market, it would get 7.5% corporate tax exemption.

"We will propose increasing the gap to 15% between non-listed and listed firms." he said.

The BSEC chair said the operating cost of the blue chips will increase 2% to 3% if they come to the capital market, and so, the corporate tax incentive has to be increased for the multinational companies.

"We want to uphold the image of Bangladesh and hope the investment will come here in the Bangladesh market," he added.

Foreign investors along with non-resident Bangladeshis will be able to know the country's capital market as well as the whole economy, said Professor Professor  Shibli Rubayat-Ul-Islam.

According to the Dhaka Stock Exchange, the total transaction of the foreign portfolio investors was Tk10,388 crore in 2020 and Tk7845.45 crore in 2019, which was 7.69% and 6.89% of the total transaction of the exchange respectively.

BSEC Executive Directors Md Mahbubul Alam and Mohammad Rezaul Karim were present at the press briefing.