Bangladesh witnessed over 95% growth in software export during first two months of the fiscal compared to the same period a year ago.
Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data showed software export rose to $20.7m in July-August 2013 from $10.6m in the period in 2012. However, the earning falls short of the target set for the period by nearly 44%. EPB source said the target was $36.87m.
BASIS president Shameem Ahsan attributed the growth to the expansion and the increased capacity of the country’s software industry.
“It (software sector) is more capable now and accommodate more entrepreneurs while the confidence has also gone high. All these have led to the big jump in export,” he said while talking to the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
Shameem Ahsan believes the fiscal’s total earning will cross the target set for the software export. The software export target of the FY2013-14 is $154.45m while the last year’s earning was $101.63m rising from $70.8m, showed EPB data.
However, the last year export figure didn’t include freelancers’ earning which worth $20m, said ICT secretary Nazrul Islam Khan.
He said: “As we are now more prepared than any time, our earning should be higher from the export of expertise.”
Nazrul Islam Khan is sure that the earning from freelancers will exceed $40m by the end of the fiscal. The target of earning from freelancers has been set at $36m. According to BASIS source, the country has over 20,000 active freelancers who are earning foreign currency.
Besides, a number of 15,000 to 20,000 workers are employed in the sector, said the source, adding that the software industry of Bangladesh has a demand of more workforce.
