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29 March 2024


Business Insider Bangladesh

Daraz says it cooperates with govt agencies to eliminate controversies

Asif Showkat Kallol || BusinessInsider

Published: 22:14, 2 December 2021   Update: 09:45, 3 December 2021
Daraz says it cooperates with govt agencies to eliminate controversies

Daraz logo

Daraz, one of the leading e-commerce companies in Bangladesh, has said they are cooperating with different government agencies thoroughly over a controversy involving what a Bangla daily said Tk 9,000 crore in illegal virtual transactions.

Daraz, a concern of the Chinese e-commerce and retail giant Alibaba.com, has also taken legal steps to support Daraz Bangladesh. They did not remit out any money as a compliance with the law, said a Daraz letter. The letter was posted to the Central Digital Commerce Cell of the Commerce ministry on Thursday.

The Daraz controversy surfaced following a report of Banlga daily Amader Somoy on November 14 over Tk 9,000 crore in illegal virtual transactions.

The letter, signed by the Daraz Chief Corporate Affairs Officer AHM Hasinul Kudus (Ruso) also said that Daraz has not used any ‘digital’ products for trading, import and production purposes involving their clients.

The e-commerce organisation claimed they now follow the provisions of the country’s digital commerce policies. Daraz said they do not allow any virtual cards, such as credit or debit cards, at their platform. They use only local currency (Taka) and maintain a legal accounting system to keep the company activities transparent.

Daraz said they are not a usual salesmanship firm, production, or payment gateway service provider.

Daraz trade ‘is a bilateral agreement between sellers and buyers through the use of the Daraz site platform’, the letter pointed out.

An additional secretary to the commerce ministry and chief of Digital e-commerce cell AHM Shafiquzzaman told the Business Insider Bangladesh, “We will not comment on the matter until the government agencies submit their reports on Daraz.”

In Bangladesh, Daraz has got 5 million people coming to their platform and it has some 20,000 active sellers of which 55 percent joined Daraz amid the pandemic.

The company said a good portion of the investment of Daraz comprises its salary payments to their 8,000 employees and workers. Of this workforce, 5,000 are managing Daraz logistics, 2,000 are warehouse operators and some 1,000 people work in Dhaka headquarters. On November 11, Daraz Bangladesh sold products worth Tk 170 crore from 12am to 10pm during its 11.11 campaign.

Users said from electronics to fashion, there is something a client would get for him or her at Daraz Bangladesh. This leading online retailer platform was established in 2012 by a German investment organisation, Rocket Internet and has been running its business since 2013 in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh e-commerce is maneuvering through the ups and downs terrain as some rogue digital shopping malls cheated customers in hundreds of crore taka in the last several months.

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