How FBCCI can help create business-friendly policies

Entrepreneurs and investors are at the heart of everything—they generate revenue, create jobs, earn foreign exchange through exports, and help build infrastructure. When businesses grow, people’s income rises. When income rises, the government collects more taxes. When taxes increase, the government becomes stronger and has more resources.

In this situation, FBCCI is not just an ordinary organisation. It is the top platform that represents the entire business community and shapes policies. The question is: How can FBCCI get business-friendly advantages from the government? How can it build a system where business growth and the country’s growth move forward together in the same direction?

Sometimes people see business and government as two different sides. In reality, they depend on each other. The government makes policies, and businesses follow them to create results. The government builds roads, ports, and electricity systems, and businesses use them to produce more goods. The government collects taxes, and businesses create jobs for people.

The first job of FBCCI should be to change this relationship from simple “demands” to a real strategic partnership. To do this, FBCCI needs to hold regular discussions on policies with the government, give suggestions before the national budget is prepared, and prepare sector-by-sector lists of problems along with clear roadmaps to solve them. When the government sees that business-friendly policies actually help increase its own revenue, it becomes much easier to get support.

When asking the government for benefits, it is not enough to just talk or make appeals. FBCCI must use solid facts, data, and proof. FBCCI can set up a strong research team that regularly studies things like: the effects of current tax systems, interest rates and how they affect investment, and the main problems stopping exports from growing. When every proposal includes real statistics, comparisons with other countries, and clear calculations showing how much extra revenue the government could earn, the government will move to consider it seriously.

Every year, the national budget decides the tax rates, duties, incentives, and subsidies that affect businesses. If FBCCI organises its suggestions properly and submits them well before the budget is announced, and then keeps talking continuously with the relevant ministries, many of those suggestions can actually become reality. For example, if the government gives tax breaks on money spent for research and development in industries, production will grow over time, exports will rise, and in the end, the government will collect more taxes. When FBCCI explains it this way, the government sees it as a smart and profitable investment, not just a loss.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the main strength of Bangladesh’s economy. However, the biggest challenges for the sector are getting loans, providing collateral (security for loans), and dealing with complicated government procedures. FBCCI can prepare a complete proposal that includes: a single-window system for loan approval, lower interest rates as incentives, and more credit guarantee schemes. 

At the same time, FBCCI can create a special unit for women entrepreneurs and work closely with banks and government offices to support them. When the government sees that helping this sector creates more jobs, it will be more willing to give policy support.

Often, very high tax rates do not bring in more money for the government—instead, they make businesses smaller or force them to close. FBCCI can suggest to the government that it should make tax rates more reasonable, remove unnecessary fees and license charges, and make tax filing easier through digital systems. When doing business becomes simpler, more people and companies start paying taxes. This means revenue actually goes up. In short: small reductions now lead to bigger gains later. FBCCI can also explain to the government that when exports grow, the country gets more foreign currency, which makes the whole economy more stable. So any support for exports is really an investment in the country’s future.

Businesses need policies they can predict and rely on. If tax rules or restrictions keep changing suddenly, investors feel unsure and hesitate to put money in. FBCCI can work together with the government to prepare a five-year business roadmap. This way, industries and investors can plan ahead with confidence.

Business-friendly policies do not come only from private meetings or lobbying. They also come from public support and opinion. If FBCCI organises discussions, seminars, and roundtable meetings based on facts and information, it creates positive pressure from society. Then the government feels more comfortable making decisions that help businesses.

If everything—licenses, registrations, taxes, import-export permissions—can be done digitally and within fixed time limits, corruption will decrease and work will become faster. FBCCI can support the government in expanding these technology-based services. This will lower both the time and cost of doing business. As a result, production will increase, and government revenue will also rise.

In the end, development is a shared journey. The government and businesses are not separate entities. They are two parts of the same economic system. When businesses make good profits, jobs increase, taxes rise, and infrastructure gets better. When the government gets benefits, it can provide stable policies and security, which helps businesses grow even more.

So the main role of FBCCI should be to build bridges between the two sides—not to create conflict, but to encourage coordination; not just to demand, but to use logic and evidence; not to apply pressure, but to form a true partnership.

The country becomes stronger when businessmen progress. And a strong country gives businesses the security and environment they need to grow sustainably. If FBCCI takes well-planned, fact-based, and strategic steps based on this idea of mutual dependence, then getting business-friendly support from the government will not only be possible—it will become natural and necessary.

Writer: Sabina Yasmin, Author, Editor, Rodsi

The article was originally published in the print and online editions of The Daily Samakal and has been rewritten for the English version by Mohammed Humayun Kabir, Senior Sub-Editor.