Staff Reporter :Software export from Bangladesh increased by 14.55 percent during the fiscal 2015-16. The country exported software for $151.83 million during the period compared with $ 132.54 million in 2014-15, according to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) revised data released recently.ICT sector insiders said, the country’s earnings from the export of information and communication technology related products remained low due to lack of initiative on the part of the government.Though the export earnings from software in FY16 was 4.71 per cent higher over the target of $145 million, the sector insiders said that the export growth should be much more. ‘The software export had a poor growth duringthe financial year 2015-16, as there was no venture to discover international markets’ said Shameem Ahsan, former President of the Bangladesh Association of Software & Information Services, told The New Nation.He said that, the government had targeted $5 billion export earnings from the ICT sector by 2021, but success will depend on investment for marketing. ‘Bangladesh is the only country which has no IT marketing office abroad, though an international marketing office is a must to boost ICT product export,’ the former chief executive of the software association said.He said, Bangladesh needs investment worth Tk 500 crore every year, but the ICT Division of the Commerce Ministry and the Export Promotion Bureau are not making any investment for this purpose.Shameem Ahsan underscored the need for modern curriculum in the education system, saying that the existing age-old curriculum was hardly producing skilled IT professionals in the country.According to the EPB data, the software export in FY15 fetched $132.54 million with 6.27 per cent growth, while earning in FY14 amounted to $124.72 million with 23.70 per cent growth.
