Foreign investment by Bangladesh

Performance of FDI Made by
Bangladesh in other
Countries for Last Five Years
[Document subtitle]
Group 10 [Date] F-521: International Business

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Submitted to
Dr. H. M. Mosarof Hossain
Professor
Department of Finance
University of Dhaka
Submitted by
Group: 10
Section: A
MBA 20th BATCH
University of Dhaka
Name ID NO. Marks/Remarks
Maruf Hossain 19-013
Niaz Mahmud 19-067
Md. Monjurul Ahsan 19-099
Serajum Monira 19-127
Farzana islam 20-189
Date of Submission: November 27, 2018

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LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
November 27, 2018
Dr. H. M. Mosarof Hossain
Professor
University of Dhaka
Subject: Submission of Term Paper
Honourable Sir,
It is a great pleasure for us to submit a report on “Performance of FDI Made by Bangladesh in
other Countries for Last Five Years.” Writing this report has been a challenging yet interesting
experience for us. It has enabled us to grasp a thorough knowledge on the subject matter and to
apply it in a real context. We are confident that this knowledge will prove to be of utmost value
and importance for us in future. We have undertaken our sincerest effort for successful completion
of this report and therefore hope that any unintentional error, omission or mistake committed by
us while preparing this report will be considered with sympathy.
Therefore, we beg your kind consideration in this regard and will be very grateful if you accept
this report and oblige there by.
Sincerely Yours
Md. Monjurul Ahsan
…………………………………..
On behalf of
Group 10
Section A

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The main objective of this report is to get an overall insight in the flow of Foreign Direct
Investment by Bangladesh in other countries for last five years. Investment in foreign countries is
now a day a common business phenomenon of free market economy. Investors usually go to
foreign countries with foreign direct investment (FDI) with certain objectives such as to maximize
global profit, to achieve lower production cost, to utilize resources, to hold strategic assets, to get
free or easy market penetration, outsourcing of manufacturing facility etc. Investors may do it for
strategical expansion as well. General objectives of this reports are to give an insight into the
theoretical issues relating to FDI, to highlight the role of FDI for developing a country. In Recent
days Bangladesh Government has approved some investment initiatives in foreign countries. It is
a case to case consideration. But it is high time to have a clear policy on investment as equity in
Overseas.
Aro kissu likhte hbe

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Table of contents
1. Introduction................................................................................................................................. 5
1.1 Origin of The Report............................................................................................................. 5
1.2 Objective of the Report......................................................................................................... 5
1.3 Methodology Used in The Study .......................................................................................... 5
1.4 Limitations of The Study ...................................................................................................... 6
2. Theories of Foreign Direct Investment ....................................................................................... 7
2.1 Reason of Investing in Foreign Countries ............................................................................ 7
2.2 Limitation of Exporting and Licensing................................................................................. 7
2.3 Necessity of FDI for a country: ............................................................................................ 8
2.4 Disadvantages of FDI............................................................................................................ 9
2.5 The Key Risks of Investing Abroad.................................................................................... 10
3. Foreign Direct Investment by Bangladesh................................................................................ 11
3.1 Current Scenario of Bangladeshi FDI................................................................................. 12
3.1.1 Foreign direct investment, net outflows (BoP, current US$)....................................... 13
3.1.2 Foreign direct investment, net outflows (% of GDP) .................................................. 13
3.3 Guidelines for Bangladeshi companies to investment abroad ............................................ 15
3.4 Leading Bangladeshi companies Invest Abroad ................................................................. 16
4. Investment Opportunities Available for Bangladesh................................................................ 18

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1. Introduction
Investment has acquired considerable emotive force in any country. It is viewed as beneficial on
employment creator-as it brings about economic development. It has termed as capital flow from
a firm or individual within the country or in one country to a business or businesses in another
country involving a share of at least 10%. It increases the economic growth by sustaining increase
in real, per capita, national product. This brings -National income effect, Balance of payment effect
& Public revenue effect. Accelerate the industrial innovation this develops in integrations take a
variety form which is not necessarily mutually exclusive. It increases Political modernization in
the degree where it function are collective oriented, universalistic specific and achievement
oriented. It also brings infrastructural development & modern nationalism.
1.1 Origin of The Report
This report is prepared as a term paper assignment for course International Business (F-521) as per
the requirement of the MBA program. The Topic “Performance of FDI Made by Bangladesh in
other Countries for Last Five Years” was assigned to us by our Honorable course teacher Professor
Dr. H. M. Mosarof Hossain.
1.2 Objective of the Report
This study is conducted with the objective to get an overall insight of the FDI made by Bangladesh
to other countries.
 To give an insight into the theoretical issues relating to FDI
 To highlight the role of multinational corporation engaged in FDI
 To focus on the administration of FDI in Bangladesh.
 To evaluate the status of FDI by Bangladesh
 To identify the problem of FDI and prescribe some issues for their solution.
1.3 Methodology Used in The Study
We mainly used Secondary Information while preparing this report. The main Source of secondary
Information was the report published by UNCTAD and newspapers and various articles.

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1.4 Limitations of The Study
As Bangladesh is seeking FDI from other countries so there are very limited information is avilabe
on the FDI made by Bangladesh to other countries. so basically two problems we have faced as
• Inability to verify the authenticity of the secondary Information.
• Lack of requisite data

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2. Theories of Foreign Direct Investment
Foreign direct investment (FDI) occurs when a firm invests directly in facilities to produce or
market a product in a foreign country. For example, some Bangladeshi companies are making
foreign investment in African country.
2.1 Reason of Investing in Foreign Countries
The primary rule of investing is to seek the highest risk-adjusted return for their capital (also called
"alpha"). Basically, firms want to maximize profit made beyond the amount of risk taken in any
given investment. One of the best ways to accomplish this is through diversification, which has
been mathematically proven to enhance risk-adjusted returns. An effectively diversified portfolio
holds at least 8-10 uncorrelated assets (or, assets that do not move in relation to each other) spread
across various industries and geographies, which ensures that an adverse event in one market will
not negatively affect the entire portfolio. As a result, investing in foreign countries (geographical
diversification) is an important way to enhance risk-adjusted returns through diversification.
Another reason firms go for FDI having two alternative options as exporting and licensing.
Exporting involves producing goods at home and then shipping them to the receiving country for
sale. Licensing involves granting a foreign entity (the licensee) the right to produce and sell the
firm's product in return for a royalty fee on every unit sold.
2.2 Limitation of Exporting and Licensing
The viability of an exporting strategy is often constrained by transportation costs and trade barriers.
When transportation costs are added to production costs, it becomes unprofitable to ship some
products over a large distance. This is particularly true of products that have a low value-to-weight
ratio and that can be produced in almost any location. For such products, the attractiveness of
exporting decreases, relative to either FDI or licensing. Transportation costs aside, some firms
undertake foreign direct investment as a response to actual or threatened trade barriers such as
import tariffs or quotas. By placing tariffs on imported goods, governments can increase the cost
of exporting relative to foreign direct investment and licensing. Similarly, by limiting imports
through quotas, governments increase the attractiveness of FDI and licensing.
According to internalization theory, licensing has three major drawbacks as a strategy for
exploiting foreign market opportunities. First, licensing may result in a firm's giving away valuable

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technological know-how to a potential foreign competitor. A second problem is that licensing does
not give a firm the tight control over manufacturing, marketing, and strategy in a foreign country
that may be required to maximize its profitability. With licensing, control over manufacturing,
marketing, and strategy are granted to a licensee in return for a royalty fee. However, for both
strategic and operational reasons, a firm may want to retain control over these functions. A third
problem with licensing arises when the firm's competitive advantage is based not as much on its
products as on the management, marketing, and manufacturing capabilities that produce those
products.
2.3 Necessity of FDI for a country:
The world has seen a spectacular wave of global corporate activity particularly during the second
half of the last decade. This has been facilitated by advances made in the information technology.
This trend, strengthened with the direction toward border less. Economies, is drawing more and
more TNCs (Trans national corporation) into the global operation. FDI is no longer only a strategic
option of corporations; it also plays a key role in the national economic development strategies.
Various countries are attempting to attract foreign investors through a variety of measures, i.e.
liberalization of investment environment, fiscal reforms and a package of incentive offers. FDI can
transform a country’s economic scenario within shortest possible time. It is not merely access to
fund, but also provide transfer of technical know-how and management expertise. It is also a
stabilizing factor in any economy, because once TNCs have made an asset-based direct investment,
they cannot simply pull out overnight like in the case of portfolio investment. Normally the benefits
accruable from FDI are inclusive of
 Transfer of technology to individual firms and technological spill-over to the wider
economy,
 Increased productive efficiency due to competition from multinational
subsidiaries
 Improvement in the quality of the factors of production including management in
other firms, not just the host firm,
 Benefits to the balance of payments through inflow of investment funds,
 Increase in exports
 Increase in savings and investment and

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 Faster growth and employment.
Thus, foreign direct investment is viewed as a major stimulus to economic growth in developing
countries. Its ability to deal with two major obstacles, namely, shortages of financial resources and
technology and skills, has made it the centre of attention for policy-makers in low-income
countries in particular.
2.4 Disadvantages of FDI
The FDI is not without having adverse consequences for an economy. First, FDI has a negative
impact on employment in home countries. Second, it has counter effect on the source country’s
capital account of the balance of payment. Finally, FDI has a negative effect on the foreign
exchange reserves. However, the negative effect of allowing FDI on capital account of the balance
of payment and on the foreign exchange reserves can partially be compensated as a result of the
following:
First, the capital account of the balance of payments of Bangladesh will benefit from the inward
flow of foreign earnings due to FDI. As an example, one merit to Japan from Toyota's investment
in France is the earnings that are subsequently brought to Japan from France.
Second, a positive employment effect arises when the foreign subsidiary creates demand for home-
country’s exports of capital equipment, intermediate goods, complementary products, and the like,
which is known as ‘complementary effect’ (Daniels et al., 2011). As an example, Toyota's
investment in auto assembly operations in Europe has benefited both the employment and Japanese
balance-of-payments position in Japan because Toyota imports some component parts for its
European-based auto assembly operations directly from Japan.
Third, another positive trigger on the capital account of the balance of payments could be the
enthusiasm that might result from outward FDI.

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2.5 The Key Risks of Investing Abroad
There are risks to investing in any country or market - including the United States - which is why
creating a diversified portfolio is so important. For example, if the U.S. made a mistake in
monetary policy and the dollar spiraled downward, wouldn't it be nice to be invested in other
countries that aren't affected? However, there are several risks specifically associated with foreign
versus domestic investing.
Currency Exchange Rate Risk: Foreign companies often generate sales and income in their local
currency - such as euros or Swiss francs. As a result, investors from the U.S. must convert these
currencies into U.S. dollars at some point. Unfortunately, the exchange rate between currencies
fluctuates over time and can lead to unexpected gains or losses.
Geopolitical Political Risk: Some foreign companies operate in countries that may face
geopolitical risks, such as terrorism or potentially hostile neighbors. For example, South Korea
faces the risk of an attack by North Korea. As a result, investors should carefully consider the risks
associated with the countries in which they invest.
Economic and Credit Risk: Foreign companies are often dependent on the health of their host
country's economy. While the U.S. has an AAA credit rating, there are many countries that have
investment ratings ranging from near-perfect to well-below investment grade. And, adverse
economic events in these countries could impact companies operating within.

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3. Foreign Direct Investment by Bangladesh
While Bangladesh is the second largest exporter of ready-made garments in the world, the fact
remains that most of the products are sold under international brands, leaving Bangladeshi
entrepreneurs, and especially Bangladeshi workers, with a very small share of the revenue that
these products generate. Some Bangladeshi companies have tried their luck in the international
market, such as Beximco-owned Yellow which has four outlets in Pakistan, but most of it has been
on a fairly limited scale. Most Bangladeshi brands selling their products abroad operate as an
exporter, and not a multinational company, due to laws that hold back Bangladeshi companies
from investing abroad. And yet, Bangladeshi companies have had significant success as exporters
of not just RMG products, but also in pharmaceuticals and leather, while other companies have
created a sizeable presence in the local market in steel, jute, beverages etc. Going multinational is
also a big challenge because local investors are not allowed to invest outside the country. Trade
analysts are in favour of allowing investment in foreign countries under a regulatory framework.
Bangladesh Bank’s conservative attitude is holding back businessmen from leveraging significant
foreign investment opportunities by establishing multinational companies. Although the Foreign
Exchange Regulation Act of 1947, which governs Bangladeshi investment abroad, was amended
in 2015, it only allows limited investment on case-to-case basis.
3.1 Why Bangladesh Needs to invest in Abroad
To become a middle income country by 2021, one of the potential means is to invest overseas. In
order to handle the volatility of Forex reserves, it is needed to ensure the best use of such reserves,
which can be done by selecting the most viable projects. Bangladesh Bank is conservative and
feels “shy” in allowing overseas investment. It should be liberal like the central banks of other
comparable economies. The commercial banks should have access to Bangladesh Bank reserves
and the limit of outward FDI should be determined by the capacity of the lending banks. Low
proportion of permissible retention of export significantly contributes to the build-up of forex
reserves and therefore this proportion should be increased. A company should provide full
declaration (proposal) of the amount of outward FDI that it aspires to invest overseas. The
permission of overseas investment should be given only to those companies that have proven track
records in terms of export performance. Since Bangladesh has scarcity in productive resources
(e.g., land), the industries (e.g., agriculture) that require intensive use of land, should be allowed

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to invest in countries, where there are abundant land (e.g., African continents). The approval
process for allowing FDI should be easy by providing “one stop service” by an organization like
BIDA (Bangladesh Investment Development Authority) A special training institute can be
established through IBFB to train the potential overseas investors. The “branding of Bangladesh”
as a country may be a facilitating factor to our companies for successful overseas investment.
3.2 Current Scenario of Bangladeshi FDI
The outflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) from Bangladesh to other countries surged by more
than three times in a year. The outward flow means Bangladeshi business entities or Bangladesh-
based multinational companies are investing in other countries across the world. The country's
outbound FDI reached $170 million in 2017, according to the Word Investment Report (WIR)
2018 statistics that was $41 million in 2016. The WIR also showed that the stock of FDI outflow
stood at $362 million at the end of 2017. The UNCTAD report, however, did not provide any
detailed data on the outflow like the destinations and sectors of the investment.
Bangladesh's Direct Investment Abroad expanded by 7.1 USD mn in Jun 2017, compared with a
growth of 23.8 USD mn in the previous quarter. Bangladesh's Direct Investment Abroad: USD mn
data is updated quarterly. It is available from Sep 1997 to Jun 2017 and averaged 0.0 USD mn
throughout the period. The data reached an all-time high of 29.0 USD mn in Dec 2016 and a record
low of 0.0 USD mn in Jun 2010. CEIC converts quarterly Direct Investment Abroad into USD.
Bangladesh Bank provides Direct Investment Abroad in local currency based on BPM6.
Bangladesh Bank average market exchange rate is used for currency conversions. Direct
Investment Abroad prior to Q3 2012 is based on BPM5.
Figure: Last Two years scenario of FDI by Bangladesh

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In the latest reports of Bangladesh, Current Account recorded a deficit of 362.2 USD mn in Jul
2018. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) increased by 548.0 USD mn in Jun 2018. Its Foreign
Portfolio Investment increased by 137.6 USD mn in Jun 2017. The country's Nominal GDP was
reported at 274.0 USD bn in Jun 2018
3.2.1 Foreign direct investment, net outflows (BoP, current US$)
The latest value for Foreign direct investment, net outflows (BoP, current US$) in Bangladesh was
$40,445,900 as of 2016. Over the past 26 years, the value for this indicator has fluctuated between
$546,876,800 in 2013 and $59,964 in 1999.
Figure: Foreign direct investment, net outflows (Source: International Monetary Fund)
3.1.2 Foreign direct investment, net outflows (% of GDP)
Foreign direct investment, net outflows (% of GDP) in Bangladesh was 0.018 as of 2016. Its
highest value over the past 26 years was 0.365 in 2013, while its lowest value was 0.000 in 1999.
Figure: Foreign direct investment, net outflows (% of GDP)

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FDI data do not give a complete picture of international investment in an economy. Balance of
payments data on FDI do not include capital raised locally, an important source of investment
financing in some developing countries. In addition, FDI data omit no equity cross-border
transactions such as intra-unit flows of goods and services. The volume of global private financial
flows reported by the World Bank generally differs from that reported by other sources because of
differences in sources, classification of economies, and method used to adjust and disaggregate
reported information. In addition, particularly for debt financing, differences may also reflect how
some installments of the transactions and certain offshore issuances are treated. Data on equity
flows are shown for all countries for which data are available.
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
South Asia 19768.4 19376.5 16047.4 13259.1 14873.2
Bangladesh 29.8 21.0 9.3 15.4 9.2
India 19594.4 19256.5 15927.1 13151.0 14752.0
Pakistan 98.0 49.0 71.0 47.0 62.0
Sri Lanka 55.0 61.7 20.0 45.7 50.0
Figure: FDI Outflows from South Asia, 2013-2017 (US$ Million)

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4. Guidelines by Bangladesh Bank for Bangladeshi companies to
investment abroad
Bangladeshi entrepreneurs may be allowed to make equity investment aboard up to 25 per cent of
their net annual income from exports. However, they will have to take prior permission from the
government for the purpose, according to the draft 'Capital Account Transactions (Overseas Equity
Investment) Guidelines 2018', prepared by the Bangladesh Bank. The sub-section 6 of the section
4 of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1947 empowered Bangladesh Bank to specify, in
consultation with the government, the classes of permissible capital account transaction. Besides,
the section 5 of the act accords power to the Bangladesh Bank to give general or special
authorisation to effect payments abroad in connection with foreign exchange transactions. The
entrepreneur needs to be financially-sound according to audited accounts of his or her company in
the past five years. The applicant should have clean track record of repatriation of export proceeds
within the period, payment of import obligations having no bill of entry unmatched, including
local payment against back to back letters of credit (LCs). The entrepreneurs also have clean record
in loan repayment in the financial system and having no unresolved restructured large loan, and
tax payment. The overseas investment proposal for business activity abroad shall ordinarily be of
similar nature of the entrepreneurs' business engagement in the home country. The equity
investment proposals should be economically-viable and have the potential for future earnings of
foreign exchange coupled with other advantages to the country including raising exports from
Bangladesh and employment opportunities for Bangladeshi nationals. According to the draft
guidelines, the entrepreneurs may be allowed to make investment in countries where there are no
restrictions on Bangladeshi nationals to work and repatriate their income to Bangladesh. The
countries with which Bangladesh has dual taxation avoidance agreement, and where investment
from Bangladesh and the repatriation of capital including capital gain, dividend, and other
admissible earnings including technical know-how fees, royalty, consultancy fees, commission or
other entitlements are allowed. However, equity investment by Bangladeshi entrepreneurs would
not be allowed in the countries, where sanctions have been imposed by the United Nations,
European Union, Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC). Entrepreneurs' also would not be made
equity investment in the countries with which Bangladesh has no diplomatic relations, the
guidelines said. It said any misuse of the fund would be treated as an offence of money laundering

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under the Money Laundering and Prevention Act. In such cases, the owner, the directors and the
beneficiary owners of the company shall be liable to punitive action under the law.
5. Leading Bangladeshi companies Invest Abroad
The government needs to formulate a specific policy to allow local companies to invest abroad as
many domestic industrial conglomerates are now capable of doing so. Some local companies have
started making overseas investments but those got permission as the central bank has been looking
into each of those case by case, not broadly under any policy framework. At least 300 local
businesses, especially agro-producers and garment makers, are seeking to invest in African
countries to grab the benefits of the rising economies of the continent (Daily Star, 2017).
Figure: Companies with overseas investment
Recently Seven Bangladeshi companies get not to invest in abroad these companies are Square
Pharmaceuticals will invest $8 million in Kenya, DBL Group will invest $8 million to build an
RMG factory in Ethiopia, MJL will invest $547,000 in a joint venture in Myanmar. ACI
Pharmaceuticals was permitted to pay $3 million for medicine patents. Incepta Pharmaceuticals
was permitted to invest £10,000 in the UK. Spectrum Engineering will invest $7,500 in Singapore.
Service Engineering was also permitted to invest $7,500. BSRM was permitted to invest $4.6
million to build a factory in Kenya.
The five companies, three of which hail from the health sector, have invested $9.1 million in six
countries between 2013 and March 2016, according to the BB. ACI Healthcare Ltd got the
permission to invest $447,000 for production and marketing of oral solid dosage in the US. Incepta
Pharmaceuticals Ltd will set up a subsidiary of its own in the UK, investing £10,000 and €2,500

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for building a joint venture investment company in Estonia. Square Pharmaceuticals got the
permission to invest $5 million for expansion of its business in the US. MJL Bangladesh Ltd
received permission to invest $547,000 for expansion of its business in Myanmar and to form a
subsidiary in Singapore. The International Monetary Fund has advised Bangladesh to make capital
accounts convertible by liberalizing foreign exchange rules further.
But the government has been maintaining a rigid stance on this though the country's foreign
exchange reserves have been robust. At present, the central bank is sitting on about $29 billion of
reserves, enough to honour import bills for nine months.

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6. Investment Opportunities Available for Bangladesh
To understand the importance of availing immediate overseas investment opportunities, one needs
to conceive the strategic importance of the north-eastern region of India and Maynmar as well as
the potentiality in African, North American, Western and other countries.
India
The north-eastern region of India is comprised of seven states, known as “seven sisters”, namely
Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur. The former
four states all together share a long 1,880 km border with Bangladesh with 1,434 km on land and
446 km riverine. The geographical disadvantages resulted in the cutting off the region from the
mainstream India’s trade and commerce, transport and communication as well as other linkages
although Tripura is bestowed with attractive natural resources.
Figure 5: Bordering Countries of the Seven Sisters
Therefore, India is looking for investment from neighbouring countries including Bangladesh,
China, Nepal, Bhutan, and Malaysia for which recently India withdrew the ban on overseas
investments. India has announced that they will provide special concession for the Bangladeshi
entrepreneurs because of cultural proximity and life style, geographical proximity, political and

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economic proximity and availability of good transportation facilities. Bangladeshi entrepreneurs
can invest in the following potential sectors in India fertilisers; mineral fuels and related products;
jam, jelly, drinks and related products; iron and steel; copper and related products; electrical
machinery and equipment; machinery and mechanical appliances; textile fibres, paper yarn and
woven fabrics of paper yarn; inorganic Chemicals; organic or inorganic compounds of precious
metals etc. (The Pioneer, 2010).
Myanmar
In May 2007, Myanmar had proposed to Bangladesh to take lease of at least 50.000 acres of land
in its Rakhine state for contract farming to produce crops like paddy, onion, maize, soybean, tea,
and sugarcanes as it has a lot of arable lands for this purpose. At least 10,000 Bangladesh farmers,
mostly from Chittagong region, could be employed therein. Bangladesh responded positively to
this proposal. However, nothing is known after that. Note that the western countries are exploring
lucrative avenues for investment and cooperation in different fields in Myanmar (Financial
Express, 2013).
African Countries
The Bangladeshi entrepreneurs took vigorous initiatives in the recent years to invest in African
countries either through leasing or purchasing land for producing rice, wheat, coffee, coco and
cotton. Some of these ventures possess the provision to employ workers taking from Bangladesh
or sell the products to Bangladesh government relatively at cheaper prices or both. Moreover, most
of such ventures will facilitate exchange of training, technologies and expertise between
Bangladesh and the host countries for increased production. These initiatives will improve food
production in the wake of rising population and decreasing farmland in Bangladesh, because it is
losing arable land to relaters and non-farm sectors at a very fast rate. Furthermore, Bangladeshi
textile millers, who have now emerged as one of the world’s largest cotton consumers, and they
import almost the whole quantity it requires. The record-breaking hike in international cotton
prices has induced textile millers’ extreme vulnerable to price volatility. The potentiality of
overseas investment and the initiatives of Bangladesh investors can be visualized from the
following exerts:

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Nitol-Niloy Group and Bhati Bangla Agrotec aimed to invest USS18.0 million to lease 40,000
hectares of land in Uganda and Tanzania in 2011 to grow foodstuff, most of which would be sold
in Bangladesh. About 75 entrepreneurs formed the Bangladesh Africa Business Organization
(BABO) in 2011 to facilitate Bangladeshi investments to Africa, where 2,500 Bangladeshi farmers
could work. BABO will bring back 80% of the produce and expected to sell at a lower price than
that in Bangladesh was Tk.30.0/km in 2011. More than 200 other Bangladeshi companies are
known to be interested in carrying out similar ventures in Uganda for 220,000 hectares of land.
Some Bangladeshi agriculturalists had grown wheat on 160 hectares of land and sold wheat at
Tk.10 per km (35US cents) in Uganda, while the price was Tk.30 per km in Bangladesh in
2011.Also open are 22 other projects in Uganda (Asia Times, 2011).
North America and Western Countries
Canada grants immigration to those who possess a minimum net worth of CAD $1.6 million.
Australia offers the investment visa to applicants who can make an AUD $1.5 million investment
in an Australian company. Investment of at least 5 million yen allows one to get Japanese investor
visa. The UK investment program requires a minimum investment of £750,000 in the U.K. through
buying U.K. government bonds, share capital, or investment capital in active U.K. companies.
Germany offers investor visas and residencies to applicants, who can invest 1 million euro into a
Germany project. Investors can obtain a residence permit in the Netherlands by making a minimum
capital investment of 27,000 euro. One can get residency visa in Spain by making an investment
of at least 500,000 euro in residential real estate. Investors are issued residence permit in
Switzerland upon paying “annual lump sum taxation” fee, a minimum of approximately US $
170,000.
Conclusion
In this arena of globalization, no enterprise can or should solely depend on domestic operations.
The competitive advantages that the business entities are enjoying in Bangladesh now, may not
prevail in future due to the entrance of the multinational companies. At the same time, Bangladeshi
entrepreneurs, who have competitive advantages now to operate overseas, say, in India, may not
be available in future and Bangladesh will lose the ”fast mover advantage” in making FDI. This is
because countries like Malaysia, Myanmar might act faster thereby availing the opportunit ies

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before Bangladesh. North-east India may serve a gateway for Bangladesh’s access to Indian
markets in terms of many aspects including FDI. In course of time it may act as a game changer
in the Bangladesh-India trade relations. So, it is time for action; not to defer it or to waste it.

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[Accessed 22 Nov. 2018].
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https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/92417/FDI%20on%20Bangladeshi%20garments
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23 | P a g e
(Theseus.fi, 2018)
(Bdnews24.com, 2018)
(Blaine, 2009)
(Dlabay and Scott, 2011)
(Froot, 2008)
(Gomes-Casseres and Yoffie, 1993)
(Hill and Hult, n.d.)
(Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), 2018)
(Theindependentbd.com, 2018)
(Report, 2018)

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