Salman F Rahman, MP, Private Industry and Investment Adviser to the Prime Minister gave a positive indication that the tax holiday facility in the ICT sector of the country may remain in force this year as well. He said: "I had an opportunity to talk to the Prime Minister about the issue of tax exemption. The Prime Minister assured to consider the proposal in view of the request to impose taxes consistently and rationally in different periods. This time the budget will inform how long the tax exemption can be. He was speaking as the chief guest at the inauguration of the newly elected Executive Council (2024-2026) of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) at Radisson Blu Water Garden Hotel, Dhaka Monday evening. State Minister for Posts, Telecommunication Information Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak, MP and State Minister for Commerce Ahasanul Islam (Titu), MP, were special guests on the occasion. Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry President Mahbubul Alam was the guest of honour. A. Towhid, Founder president of BASIS, administered the oath to the newly elected executive council at the event held at Radisson Blu Water Garden Hotel, Dhaka Monday evening.
Apart from this, former president of BASIS, Sarwar Alam, Rafiqul Islam Rowly, outgoing executive council members, former executive committee members, and representatives of BASIS member companies and officials of various embassies in Bangladesh were present. Russell T. Ahmed, President of BASIS, M Rashidul Hasan, Senior Vice President of BASIS, Syed Mohammad Kamal, Vice President (Admin) and Iqbal Ahmed Fakhrul Hasan, Vice President (Finance), and the newly elected Directors of BASIS Md. Mostafizur Rahaman Sohel, Didarul Alam, M Asif Rahman, Dr. Muhammad Risalat Siddique, Mir Shahrukh Islam, Biplob Ghosh Rahul and Syed Abdullah Jayed took oath. Outgoing Vice-President (Admin) Abu Daud Khan and Vice President (Finance) Fahim Ahmed handed over the BASIS flag to Russell T. Ahmed who has been re-elected as the BASIS President. Later, the outgoing Executive Council members, BASIS Election Board and Appeal Board were felicitated by the guests for their contribution. Samira Zuberi Himika, the outgoing Senior Vice-President of BASIS, delivered the welcome address on the occasion. Zunaid Ahmed Palak said: "2500 ICT service providers and software development companies under BASIS have created employment for around 3 lakh youth, we hope the number will reach 10 lakh soon. We want to increase the export earnings of this sector to 5 billion dollars by 2029. Our IT sector is growing and so are the possibilities." Ahasanul Islam (Titu) said: The IT sector has developed with the combined efforts of all and I hope that will continue. We have taken the initiative of Ministry of Commerce to be completely paperless. Within the next one year, the Ministry of Commerce will be completely paperless. In other words, if you have the necessary documents to open a company, you can get all the certificates at home." Mahbubul Alam said: "It is hoped that the newly elected Executive Council of BASIS will play an important role in developing the indigenous software industry, achieving self-sufficiency.
