OPCs fail to grow for higher paid-up capital

Staff Reporter :
Emphasising on full automation of company registration process, businesses have said that the rate of registration of One-Person Companies (OPCs) with the Office of the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSC) has not witnessed expected growth due to the imposition of high paid-up capital.
The number of the OPCs stood at 76 during the July-December, 2022 period – the first half of the current financial year, while it was just 124 in the fiscal year of 2021-22, according to the RJSC.
The data shows only 200 OPCs got registration from the RJSC in the last 18 months, while some 5,683 companies, trade organisations, societies and partnership firms got registration in the first half of the ongoing fiscal year.
The existing paid-up capital should be lowered at Tk 0.5 million, which is now Tk 2.5 million, the businesses said.
Barrister Nihad Kabir, Chairperson of the Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD), held a meeting with the Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi at the latter office at secretariat in the city on Thursday and expressed her concern over having not flourishing the OPCs in the country, which is very important.
The Minister, however, said that 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 rather than one.
“We will go for full-scale automation, and we will be going through some internal
proceedings while we aspire to be a paperless office in delivering faster business registration services online,” the minister added.
Nihad Kabir expressed her concern over the high paid-up capital requirement for one-person companies, citing, “The nation has yet to see the predicted rise in the OPC. The existing paid-up capital of Tk 2.5 million should follow the example of private limited companies.”
She also urged to eliminate all barriers include the necessity for a commercial address when applying for a trade licence to facilitate company operations throughout the country.
MCCI President Md Saiful Islam said, “Following the examples of IRC and ERC of five-year terms, other agencies can issue licences and relevant certificates.”
He further said that the government could digitalise the trade licence process collecting all relevant fees and transfer the revenue under the head to pertinent agencies that earn income for providing the licences.