While the government’s ultimate target is a 14-day turnaround, a roadmap presented by Invest Bangladesh (IB) outlined an interim 18-day timeline.
Illustration: TBS
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Illustration: TBS
The government is planning a major overhaul of Bangladesh’s investment regime, aiming to slash the time required to secure all business startup licences, clearances, and approvals from up to 355 days down to just 18 days.
The initiative aims to boost domestic and foreign direct investment by eliminating bureaucratic delays. Under the proposed system, investors will be able to obtain 11 of the 12 required statutory documents within a single day each. The government also plans to reduce prerequisites, allow parallel application processing, and introduce a single digital platform to streamline operations.
The decisions were taken during the second meeting of the committee formed to simplify industrial setup procedures. The meeting, chaired by Commerce and Industries Minister Khandakar Abdul Muktadir, was held at the Ministry of Textiles on 19 October.
While the government’s ultimate target is a 14-day turnaround, a roadmap presented by Invest Bangladesh (IB) outlined an interim 18-day timeline.
Infograph: TBS
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Infograph: TBS
Speaking to The Business Standard, Invest Bangladesh Chairman Ashik Chowdhury noted that it currently takes about a year to progress from factory planning to opening a letter of credit (LC).
“Our goal is to ensure that a business can be set up within 14 days before the next budget,” Chowdhury said. “This will send a strong positive message to the global investment community.”
11 services targeted for one-day delivery
According to the presentation, the 11 services targeted for one-day delivery include name clearance, opening a non-operating bank account, company registration with the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSC), trade licence, tax identification number (TIN), regular bank account, fire licence, environmental clearance, building plan approval, import registration certificate (IRC), and business identification number (BIN).
Government agencies currently take between 167 and 325 days to deliver these 11 services.
Only IRC approval from IB more than a day
The sole service expected to take longer than a day is the recommendation stage for the Import Registration Certificate (IRC).
Invest Bangladesh currently takes 10 days to recommend an IRC application to the Office of the Chief Controller of Imports and Exports (CCI&E). Under the new roadmap, this will be reduced to seven days. Once recommended, the CCI&E will issue the industrial IRC within a single day—down from the current 20-day waiting period.
Instant automated trade licences
As part of the reforms, manual trade licences will be replaced by an automated annual Business Registration Certificate (BRC), issued instantly via a central digital portal.
Currently, businesses must obtain trade licences from city corporations, municipalities, or union parishads through manual processes taking 7 to 30 days. Under the proposed automated system, applicants will receive a BRC immediately upon online payment of the prescribed fee, eliminating pre-inspections and manual approvals. Fees will remain unchanged and will be transferred directly to local government bank accounts.
Implementing the BRC model will require policy alignment at the prime ministerial level, alongside regulatory updates by banks and revenue authorities to formally recognise the certificate for BIN, IRC, and Export Registration Certificate (ERC) applications.
Full RJSC automation by next year
The RJSC informed the committee that it has begun piloting a new platform to process name clearances and company registrations within one day. Investors are expected to access these automated services starting 15 January.
The agency has also drafted an action plan to expedite 54 post-registration services, with complete automation across all RJSC operations targeted for 15 January 2027. Legislative amendments to the Companies Act 1994 and standardisations to company memorandums of association are also underway to match international benchmarks by mid-January. The RJSC portal will subsequently integrate with the national BanglaBiz platform.
Longer validity for fire and environmental clearances
To reduce administrative burdens, the government plans to extend the validity of fire licences from one year to three years.
The Fire Service and Civil Defence Directorate has built a new digital platform for issuing no-objection certificates and licences. Although the agency requested six months to integrate with BanglaBiz, the committee directed it to complete integration by November.
The meeting highlighted stark contrasts between local fire safety regulations and international standards:
In Bangladesh, Licences require annual renewals, two separate applications, and multiple field inspections, taking up to 90 days.
In Singapore, Private engineers issue 3-year licences within three days, backed by annual inspections
In India, Licences are valid for three years and take approximately three weeks to obtain.
In Vietnam, fire safety is assessed during initial building design approvals within six days, eliminating standalone fire licences.
Similarly, environmental clearance validity will be extended from one year to between three and five years, depending on the industry category. Environmental public hearings will move entirely online, and the Department of Environment will involve sectoral experts on technical review committees while accepting test results from Bangladesh Accreditation Board (BAB)-accredited labs and public universities.
Finally, the government has initiated amendments to the Import Registration Order (IRO). Under current rules, companies must secure final approvals from both the Fire Service and the Department of Environment before receiving an IRC. The proposed amendments will remove these prerequisites and fully digitise the IRC issuance workflow.
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