Business Report :
Speakers at a focus group discussion yesterday said that coordination among agencies, structural reforms and good management are crucial for sustainable growth of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) in the country.
They made the remarks at a focus group discussion on “Reform of SME Policy-2019 for Sustainable Growth and Innovation” organized by the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI) at the DCCI auditorium here.
DCCI President Ashraf Ahmed presented the keynote paper at the discussion, according to a press release issued by DCCI here.
Md. Salim Ullah, Additional Secretary (Policy, Law & International Co-operation), Ministry of Industries said that the government was trying to formulate an international standard SME Policy and thus sought cooperation from all stakeholders in this regard.
“All the shortcomings of the previous policy will be addressed and the new one will try to reflect the requirements of all stakeholders for the betterment of SME sector as a whole,” he added.
Md. Anwar Hossain, Vice Chairman, Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), said that the main task of EPB was to promote export-oriented industries including SMEs.
He reiterated the importance of automation in all client service activities of the government as EPB is also trying to make its all services automated soon.
Anwar said that they need to strengthen the backward linkage industry especially the SME sector and NBR should consider simplifying tax filing process especially for CMSMEs as too much documentation process would be a burden for them.
“Besides ISO certification, we need to set our own standard for our exportable products so that we can improve our products competitiveness in the global market,” he added.
DCCI President Ashraf Ahmed said that agro-based economy alone will not be sustainable for the overall economy rather there is a need to go for industrialization. Besides, export of service sector should be enhanced.
He said that CMSME sector is a large sector that has the capacity to create adequate employment opportunities in the country.
The DCCI president said about half a million graduates come into the job market every year and if the CMSME sector can grow, then they will be able to create enough employment creation for these educated unemployed graduates.
He suggested redefining the definition of SME and also uniqueness of the new definition for all government agencies including Bangladesh Bank.
The DCCI president put emphasis on easy access to finance, new model of financing like electronic nano-financing model, electronic channeling, automation of licensing and its renewal, high skills availability, intellectual property protection, high-speed broadband internet facility, addressing non-tariff measures and access to technology for the development of SME sector.