The government has proposed sweeping tax and duty concessions on computers, mobile SIM cards, and digital payment equipment, aiming to accelerate digitalisation, expand access to technology, and promote cashless transactions across the country.

Finance minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury made the proposal while placing the proposed budget for the fiscal year of in Jatiya Sangsad on Thursday.

As part of the proposed measures, all import duty, regulatory duty, supplementary duty, and value-added tax on laptops, desktop computers, servers, computer printers, and monitors have been proposed to be withdrawn.

The minister said that the move was intended to support the digital economy and create more employment opportunities in the technology sector.

Solid-state drives will also receive significant tax relief, with all levies removed except a retained 5 per cent import duty, he said.

In another major proposal, the government planned to abolish the fixed tax of Tk 300 imposed on each mobile SIM card.

The finance minister said that the measure would reduce government revenue by around Tk 1,200 crore annually but would make mobile services more affordable and accessible to the public. The withholding tax on mobile network service revenues has also been proposed to be reduced from 12 per cent to 10 per cent.

To encourage wider adoption of digital payments, he also proposed to reduce the import duty on point-of-sale machines to 5 per cent from the existing 10 per cent.

Moreover, the 7.5 per cent advance tax on their import is also proposed to be withdrawn, lowering the cost of deploying cashless payment infrastructure for retailers and small businesses.