Bangladesh Association of Publicly Listed Companies (BAPLC) President and Managing Director of Berger Paints Bangladesh Limited Rupali Haque Chowdhury said there are many multinational companies in the country that are not yet listed in the capital market.
There is a lack of good companies in the capital market. Therefore, the path for domestic and foreign companies to come to the capital market or invest should be attractive. In the Companies Act, our unlisted companies are much easier than listed companies.
She said these things at CMJF Talk organized by Capital Market Journalists Forum (CMJF) in Paltan, Dhaka, on Sunday. Chaired by CMJM President Golam Samdani Bhuiyan and moderated by General Secretary Abu Ali, she presented in the event a picture of business.
"We had a corporate tax gap of 15 per cent. The Companies Act should be reviewed for both listed and unlisted companies. I am not just talking about taxes. We have to level the playing field. Then if they are listed, they will get benefits. That is why they will be listed," she added.
In response to a question, she said, "It would not be right to increase all types of supplementary duties, including port charges. If these duties are increased at this moment, business and commerce will not be able to bear any kind of inflationary pressure. We, from BAPLC, are strongly protesting against the increase in duties." She said, if they do not get good benefits if they are listed, then why will they come to IPO. They will raise capital from banks.
She said, "Why is our GDP investment rate decreasing? It has decreased in the past few years. The reason for this is that we have suffered a lot due to Covid-19. Especially in SMEs, we have fallen behind. But the big ones are doing well. 30 per cent of SMEs are associated with the banking sector. They need enough funds. But they are sitting with big plans. The banking sector is not very interested in SMEs."
Then came the Ukraine war and political instability in the country. On attracting investment, she said, "We need financial policies. One of these is related to revenue. Along with infrastructure development, If we match up with other countries, we will see that their lead time is much less.
She said, "Our supply line must be world-class. What investors want is good infrastructure in the country compared to other competing countries. We are not expanding roads according to the number of cars we have. So we also have to come forward with infrastructure."
She said, "At the beginning of this year, they were talking about supplementary duty and VAT imposition. These are hitting the bottom line of many businesses. They have imposed supplementary duty on paint. They said it is a luxury product. But paint is no longer a luxury product. It makes the product safe." She said.
