Govt cuts mobile phone import tax to 43.4pc from 61pc

Business Report :

The government has announced a significant reduction in taxes on mobile phone imports in a bid to stabilise Bangladesh’s smartphone market and clamp down on the widespread circulation of unofficial and smuggled handsets.

At a press briefing on Thursday following the Advisory Council meeting at the Foreign Service Academy in Dhaka, Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam said the overall tax burden on imported mobile phones has been cut from around 61 percent to 43.4 percent. The move also lowers import duty on locally assembled phones from 10 percent to 5 percent to encourage domestic assembly and manufacturing.

Officials explained that the decision aims to limit the dominance of grey-market phones, which industry groups have said make up an estimated large share of the market and cost the government significant tax revenue each year. Experts and business representatives have previously raised concerns that illegal imports often brought in without proper documentation and sometimes carrying dubious International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers have depressed legal sales and undermined both consumer protection and state revenue.

Industry stakeholders have welcomed the tax cuts as a step toward reducing retail prices and expanding local manufacturing capacity. By lowering costs for licensed assemblers and legal importers, officials say the move is expected to make legally imported and domestically assembled handsets more competitive compared with unofficial units.

Shafiqul Alam noted that many used phones are currently imported, lightly refurbished and sold locally, causing losses for consumers and depriving the government of revenue. The new tax structure, he said, is designed to shift demand toward legitimate products and contribute to a healthier electronics market ecosystem.
The tax cuts come amid broader efforts to regulate the mobile device market.

Previously, authorities moved to introduce the National Equipment Identity Register (NEIR), a system to block unregistered or unauthorised handsets from accessing telecom networks, and announced restrictions on imports of cloned, stolen, or illegally refurbished phones. These moves form part of a broader drive to tighten enforcement and protect consumers and the formal economy.

Government officials also highlighted that the tax revision was approved alongside the draft National Urban Policy 2025 during the first Advisory Council meeting of the year, signalling a coordinated approach to economic and regulatory reforms.