Govt moves to slash business licensing time, decriminalise business failure: Commerce minister

Commerce Minister Khandakar Abdul Muktadir has announced that the government is undertaking regulatory overhauls to simplify business operations, including cutting down licensing times, ensuring consistent energy supply, and introducing structural exit routes for businesses.

The minister also said investment is the sole driver of job creation, which cannot be forced by laws or administrative decrees but must instead be supported by market-friendly policies.

He made the remarks while speaking at a policy symposium titled "Post-Uprising Economy & Geopolitics of Budget: Reminiscing the legacy of M Saifur Rahman" at a hotel in Dhaka today (22 May).  

Muktadir, also the minister for industries, textiles and Jute, said, "To start a business in Bangladesh, an entrepreneur currently requires 25 to 26 licenses, taking an average of 350 days. This exhausts entrepreneurs before they even begin operations."

He stated that under the guidance of the prime minister, the government is drastically reducing these overlapping processes, with the changes becoming physically visible.

"As part of the reforms, the trade license issuance process – currently scattered across thousands of decentralised local government entities – will be centralised."

Additionally, the process for obtaining Import Registration Certificates (IRC) and Export Registration Certificates (ERC) will move entirely online, allowing entrepreneurs to download certificates digitally without visiting physical offices, he added.

The commerce minister also advocated for a fundamental shift in how the state views business failures. 

Highlighting the lack of viable exit routes for struggling enterprises in Bangladesh, he called for bankruptcy frameworks similar to Chapter 7 or Chapter 11 insolvency codes used in developed nations.

"A business failure is not a criminal offense; it must be treated as a business issue. While willful default and money laundering must face the strictest punishments, genuine business failures should not be criminalised," he said.

Addressing the ongoing energy crisis, the minister noted that fuel shortages and weak policy implementation have left the country's installed industrial capacity underutilised, which costs the economy potential percentage points in GDP growth. 

The government is actively working to ensure uninterrupted fuel supplies to production units, he assured.

Muktadir also raised concerns over high bank interest rates, which currently range between 13% and 15%. He pointed out that such rates are unsustainable for Bangladesh's labor-intensive, low-capital manufacturing sectors that operate on slim profit margins. 

"To support these industries, the government, under the leadership of the finance minister, is planning to launch a scheme to provide off-shore funds at more tolerable interest rates," he said.