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29 March 2024


Business Insider Bangladesh

BB to disburse fund of e-commerce firms from next week

BI Report || BusinessInsider

Published: 19:56, 5 December 2021   Update: 19:57, 5 December 2021
BB to disburse fund of e-commerce firms from next week

Photo: Representational

The commerce ministry will ask the Bangladesh Bank to initiate the process of refunding money of various e-commerce customers from next week without legal obligation, an official of the commerce ministry said.

The maximum amount of the stuck money is worth Tk 214 crore which belongs to the clients of various e-commerce platforms. The money has been stuck in between a number of payment gateways, the commerce ministry said.

The second phase of the payment will resume as soon as litigations filed by the deceived clients are resolved by the respective courts, the official pointed out.

The decision of disbursing the held money in two phases was raised at a cabinet committee meeting to restructure the country’s e-commerce business, recently.

To begin the process, the ministry of commerce will only reimburse the customers who did not lodge any case against their respective e-commerce organisations.

This process ran late due to non-response to the intervention by the ministry of law and parliamentary affairs.

Paper work (file) over the reimbursement has already been sent to the commerce minister Tipu Mushi for his approval.

The law and parliamentary affairs ministry is yet to offer any feedback to the commerce ministry’s memo for refunding the money.

The held up money worth Tk 214 crore belongs to the clients of various e-commerce platforms who paid but did not get their products.

“We will go for disbursement of the fund on a case by case basis,” the commerce ministry official said.

People who had made advance payments to some rogue e-commerce companies may feel better after reimbursement, the official added.

AHM Shafiquzzaman, an additional secretary to the ministry of commerce, told the Business Insider Bangladesh on Sunday that the law ministry needs to scrutinise the matter as some consumers have lodged lawsuits.

Customers who did not file any case are free from such verification. These people will get their money back in the first place, the official added.

After an inter-ministerial meeting last month, the commerce ministry and Bangladesh Bank decided to return Tk 214 crore to the respective clients.

The cabinet division had formed a 15-member high-powered committee in September to reimburse the money to the customers and bring order to e-commerce trading.

Bangladesh Bank in June introduced escrow accounts against the payments made by the clients to the e-commerce institutions so that their money remains safe.

Meanwhile, E-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (E-Cab) said some e-commerce shops’ funds have been stuck in the payment gateway even after delivering the products to the customers.

Last month, the country’s intelligence agencies blacklisted some 49 e-commerce companies for their various unscrupulous activities.

A large number of customers have been deceived by various e-commerce companies, including Evaly, e-Orange, Dhamaka and Qcoom. The clients had paid the advances long ago but did not receive their respective products.

To curb such fraudulent activities and protect the interests of the consumers, the government issued guidelines for managing the e-commerce shops followed by introduction of escrow accounts.

Nagad
Monetary Policy Stance
Budget 2020-21
Walton