Bangladeshi entrepreneurs spend 6x official fees and wait weeks to register businesses. The digital portals exist—they just don't work. Here's what's broken and how to navigate it anyway.
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You want to start a business in Bangladesh. You've got the idea, maybe some capital, and the determination to build something. So you go to the RJSC (Registrar of Joint Stock Companies) website to register your company. The portal loads. You start filling forms. Then: "Server is down." You try again the next day. Same message. The day after that, the site loads but crashes when you upload documents.
So you do what 89% of Bangladeshi entrepreneurs do: you find a broker. He quotes you 25,000 BDT for a service with an official fee of 4,125 BDT. That's 6 times more than it should cost. You pay it anyway, because the alternative is spending weeks navigating a system running on 2006 software that crashes more often than it works.
Here's what this broken system is actually costing Bangladesh: a 45.7% drop in new company registrations, a 41% decline in startup funding, and thousands of would-be entrepreneurs who give up before they start. This isn't about lazy bureaucrats or corrupt officials (though those exist). It's about digital systems that promise efficiency but deliver frustration.
Let me walk you through what registering a private limited company in Bangladesh actually involves—not the official timeline, but the reality.
According to the World Bank, it takes 19.5 days and 9 procedures to start a business in Bangladesh. That's already worse than the OECD average of 9.2 days. Bangladesh ranks 168th out of 190 economies for ease of doing business.
Step 1: Name Clearance
You submit proposed company names through the RJSC portal. Official fee: 500 BDT per name. The system should respond in days. Reality: The portal crashes frequently. When it works, you wait weeks. Many entrepreneurs pay brokers 2,000-5,000 BDT to "expedite" this.
Step 2: Memorandum and Articles of Association
You need to draft these legal documents, pay stamp duty (1,000-10,000 BDT depending on capital), and submit them. The RJSC portal requires uploading multiple scan copies. The 2006 software often rejects files for unclear reasons. Format issues. Size limits. Browser compatibility problems.
Step 3: Trade License
You need this from your City Corporation or Municipality. Required documents: application form, National ID, ownership proof, holding tax receipt. Each of these requires separate verification. The online system exists but isn't fully functional. Most entrepreneurs visit offices multiple times.
Step 4: TIN Certificate
The e-TIN portal from NBR (National Board of Revenue) is supposed to make this simple. It's not. Integration issues with other systems mean your application gets stuck. The portal doesn't clearly explain why. You call the helpline. It's busy. You visit the office. They tell you to use the online system.
Step 5-9: VAT Registration, IRC, Bank Account, Company Seal, BOI Registration
Each step involves similar frustrations. Portals that crash. Unclear error messages. Documents that get "lost" in the system. Officials who tell you to come back tomorrow.
Total time: Officially 19.5 days. Reality: Several weeks to months. With a broker: Maybe 2-3 weeks, at 6x the cost.
The RJSC portal runs on software developed by IFC in 2006, implemented in 2009. That's 16-19 years old. For context, that's before smartphones, before cloud computing became standard, before modern web security practices.
The system requires "partial automation with heavy manual intervention." Translation: You fill forms online, but someone still has to manually process them. The digital layer adds complexity without removing bureaucracy.
RJSC faces severe staff shortages. There aren't enough people to process applications, even with digital systems. This creates backlogs. Applications sit in queues for weeks. The online portal shows "pending" with no explanation of why or when it will be processed.
"Server is down" is the most common response entrepreneurs get. This isn't occasional maintenance—it's frequent, unplanned outages. The birth and death registration system suspended e-payments for 6 months (November 2023 to May 2024) due to similar issues. The RJSC portal has the same problems.
Most Bangladeshis access the internet via mobile phones. The RJSC portal isn't mobile-responsive. It barely works on desktop browsers. Try using it on a phone and you'll encounter broken layouts, buttons that don't work, and forms that won't submit.
The portal uses technical jargon in English. Legal language that even native English speakers find confusing. Limited Bangla instructions. No plain language guides. If you don't have a business or legal background, you're lost.
A CPD (Centre for Policy Dialogue) study in May 2024 found that entrepreneurs spend 6 times more than official fees to obtain licenses. For RJSC registration with 318,320 BDT capital:
That's 20,625 BDT extra—money that could have gone to inventory, marketing, or hiring.
The official 19.5 days is fiction. Entrepreneurs report:
For a bootstrapped entrepreneur, this time is money. Every week delayed is revenue not earned, customers not served, momentum lost.
In July-December 2023, 4,516 new companies registered with RJSC. In the same period of 2022: 8,314 companies. That's a 45.7% drop. Those aren't just statistics—they're 3,798 businesses that didn't happen. Ideas that died in bureaucracy.
Startup funding dropped 41% in 2024. Local investor participation shrank 95%. The ecosystem is contracting, not growing.
While you're spending weeks registering your company, your competitors in India, Singapore, or Estonia are already operating. India takes 18 days (similar to Bangladesh) but has better digital infrastructure. Singapore takes 1.5 days. Estonia lets you register a company entirely online, from anywhere in the world, in days.
Foreign investors look at these numbers. They choose other markets.
Here's what I've found after analyzing the broker system: they're not the problem—they're a symptom. Brokers exist because they solve real problems the digital systems don't.
What brokers actually do:
Why entrepreneurs use them despite the cost:
The Financial Express found hundreds of brokers operating around RJSC headquarters. They have separate chambers and offices. They approach potential clients on the street: "Were you looking for any service for company registration?"
This isn't informal—it's institutionalized. And it costs entrepreneurs 49.22% more than official fees.
The RJSC Registrar allows direct official access daily from 11 AM to 1 PM. Bring all your documents. Be prepared to wait. But you can bypass brokers entirely by meeting officials directly.
What to bring:
Law firms like TRW Law Firm or Law Advisor BD charge more upfront than brokers, but:
Cost: Higher than brokers, but you're paying for legitimate service, not bribes.
USAID's Trade Activity created model Memorandum and Articles of Association. These are standardized, legally compliant templates that reduce errors. Find them through business associations or legal service providers.
BIDA's One-Stop Service portal (bidaquickserv.org) integrates 134 services from 44 organizations. It's supposed to streamline everything.
Reality check:
But it's worth trying. Create an OSSPID account, submit your application, and track status online. If it works, great. If not, you haven't lost much time.
FBCCI, DCCI, or sector-specific associations provide:
Membership fees are worth it for the knowledge and connections alone.
This protects you if applications get "lost" or officials claim you never submitted something.
The RJSC portal needs a complete rebuild. Modern, mobile-responsive, user-tested design. Full automation with no manual intervention. Clear error messages. Bangla and English interfaces.
USAID has been supporting this since 2019. The technical specification was expected in January 2023. It's now December 2025. Three Registrar changes since 2021 have delayed everything.
Why does an Import Registration Certificate need annual renewal? India offers lifetime IRCs. Why do entrepreneurs need to submit the same documents to multiple agencies? A unified digital identity system would solve this.
True one-stop service means RJSC, NBR, City Corporations, and CCI&E share data automatically. One application, multiple licenses. No repeated document uploads. No manual verification across agencies.
BIDA's OSS is supposed to do this. It doesn't, fully. Vietnam's OSS takes 35 days. Indonesia's takes 48 days. Bangladesh's timeline is unclear because the system doesn't consistently work.
Hire and train adequate staff. Reduce dependency on manual processing. Improve accountability. But this requires budget allocation, political will, and institutional reform. Don't hold your breath.
Bangladesh ranks 168th out of 190 economies for ease of doing business. That's not changing quickly. The digital portals exist, but they're built on 2006 software with insufficient staff and frequent crashes.
What you can control:
What you can't control:
The key insight: The digital promise hasn't been delivered. You're not failing to navigate the system—the system is failing you. Understanding this changes your approach. You stop blaming yourself for not figuring out broken portals. You start planning for workarounds.
If you're starting a business in Bangladesh right now:
If you're already stuck in the registration process:
The system is broken. But businesses are still being registered. Entrepreneurs are still succeeding. It's harder than it should be, more expensive than it should be, and more frustrating than it should be. But it's possible.
The question is whether you're willing to navigate the gauntlet—and whether Bangladesh will fix these systems before more entrepreneurs give up.
Have you tried registering a business in Bangladesh? Share your experience in the comments. What worked? What failed? What advice would you give to someone starting now?
This analysis is based on comprehensive research from 40+ sources including CPD studies, World Bank data, USAID reports, and investigative journalism from 2020-2025. For the full comprehensive research report with detailed sources and methodology, email us at contact@atomictechnium.com
The expert engineering team at Atomic Technium, delivering enterprise-grade cloud, security, and data solutions with atomic precision.
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