Dhaka: E-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB) on Monday demanded authorities keep the e-commerce sector tax free until 2025 attaching provisions in the upcoming national budget for 2016-2017 fiscal year, reports UNB.

The association said the special measure was needed to help the burgeoning sector flourish.

The e-CAB has also proposed that all banking charges on e-commerce transaction should remain under one percent and e-commerce trade licence fee should be under Tk3000.

It also proposed removal of Value Added Tax (VAT) on online transactions until 2025. Electronic commerce, commonly written as e-commerce, is the trading or facilitation of trading in products or services using computer networks such as the Internet.

The association’s Executive Director Ferdous Hasan Sohag said the sector is still at ‘struggling stage’ despite having huge potential to expand in Bangladesh.

‘If the recommendations are addressed, the entrepreneurs in this sector will feel encouraged to go ahead,’ he said.

Otherwise, Sohag said, it will be difficult for them to ‘survive’ who are coming in this sector for doing business.

‘We see huge potential of the sector in Bangladesh. Countries like India and China have progressed a lot in this particular area,’ he added.

Responding to a question, he said the government, in the past provided subsidy in some sectors to help them survive but they do not want any subsidy.

It will be like an ‘incentive and life-support’ for the new entrepreneurs who are putting money in the sector.

He said the e-CAB submitted the recommendations to the government through the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), the apex trade body of the country.

The e-CAB hoped that these recommendations will be taken into consideration in the upcoming budget as it believes that by implementation of the recommendations will play a crucial role in building a prosperous e-commerce sector in Bangladesh.