The government plans to arrange micro credit at 4 per cent interest rate for the entrepreneurs of the F- commerce, the newest form of e-commerce, as it is on the rise all over the country.
To ensure smooth progress of f-commerce, the commerce ministry is working on finalising digital commerce operation guidelines. The ministry has also formed a digital commerce cell to implement the digital commerce policy, sources said.
F-commerce (Facebook commerce) is one of the newest forms of electronic commerce, or e-commerce that got popular with young entrepreneurs which mainly attests that shopping on Facebook pages is convenient for the young generation.
"Bangladesh Bank (BB) has already constituted a Tk 500 crore fund for start-ups. Entrepreneurs who are engaged in F-commerce and other forms of e-commerce will get credit at 4 percent interest rate from this fund," said BB's chief spokesperson Md Serajul Islam.
As per the prerequisites, all state-owned and private commercial banks or specialised banks can avail the refinancing scheme of Tk 500 crore, said Serajul, also the executive director of BB.
"At least 400,000 new entrepreneurs are engaged in F-commerce. Bangladesh Bank is going to arrange small loans at 4 per cent interest for the entrepreneurs who are engaged in F-commerce and startup business," State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak recently said at a virtual conference.
“The participation of young entrepreneurs in F-commerce is on the rise significantly,” he added.
The e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB) arranged the virtual conference on Rural to Global E-commerce Policy Conference where Zunaid Ahmed Palak also highlighted different initiatives taken by the government for e-commerce.
A commerce ministry official said formulation of 'Digital Commerce Operation Guidelines 2021' is now at final stage and the matter of inclusion of social media commerce entrepreneurs in the guidelines is under the consideration of the commerce ministry.
As the e-commerce including, the f-commerce, is expanding in the country, the commerce ministry has formed a digital commerce cell to implement the digital commerce policy with a view to ensuring its smooth expansion, said the official.
Senior Secretary of Commerce Ministry Dr Jafar Uddin said the commerce ministry has formed a digital commerce cell to implement the digital commerce policy.
"The work is on to finalise the digital commerce operation guidelines, 2021. We keep the matter of inclusion of social media commerce entrepreneurs in the guideline under the consideration of the Commerce Ministry," he said.
According to e-CAB, the f-commerce market is gradually expanding in Bangladesh, the business transactions worth Tk 7,000 crore took place in 2020 over traditional e-commerce mediums, and an astounding Tk 1,000 crore was contributed by f-commerce.
Now over 400,000 new entrepreneurs are engaged in f-commerce in the country and the number of entrepreneurs is increasing.
The prospects of f-commerce in Bangladesh is even better as it is among the top 10 Facebook-using nations. Facebook’s subscriber base in Bangladesh was 39 million in 2020, according to e-CAB statistics.
According to the monthly business review of the Industrial Development Leasing Company of Bangladesh Limited, more than 300,000 Bangladeshi stores run through Facebook. Of them, women own 50 per cent. The social media platform boasts of 50,000 business pages in Bangladesh.
