The Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) has built a pipeline of 70 prospective foreign investors from 20 countries, with an estimated investment value of $1.5 billion, as it intensifies efforts to convert interest into realised capital through faster approvals, sector targeting and digital reforms.
The figures were disclosed at a workshop titled “Bangladesh’s Investment Flows and Investment Facilitation” at BIDA headquarters in Agargaon on Thursday.
Officials said the agency is shifting from broad promotion to targeted investor engagement, focusing on specific companies, sectors and countries with higher conversion potential.
Nahian Rahman Rochi, executive member of BIDA’s Investment Promotion Wing, said the authority is mapping the full investor lifecycle to reduce drop-offs between initial contact and final investment decisions.
BIDA has identified 19 priority sectors and introduced tools such as a matchmaking portal to link foreign investors with local partners, alongside closer coordination with Bangladesh Bank, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
It estimates about 25 per cent of the pipeline could materialise within a year, potentially bringing in around $300 million, though officials note global investment cycles typically take 18 to 24 months from discussion to implementation.
Alongside pipeline building, BIDA is tightening project screening, shifting focus from registration volumes to execution-ready proposals.
BIDA Executive Chairman Chowdhury Ashik Mahmud Bin Harun said the agency is working to cut procedural delays that require investors to obtain multiple approvals from different government bodies before starting projects.
He said BIDA is developing a “single umbrella” approval system and expanding digitalisation, with a target of reducing selected approval timelines to as low as seven days.
A task force has been formed, with initial progress expected within three months.
“We have to make government services more predictable and efficient for investors,” Ashik said.
As part of the digital push, BIDA plans to introduce a Unique Business ID (UBID) to allow firms to use a single identifier across agencies and reduce repeated submissions of documents.
Officials said the One Stop Service (OSS) platform will only be fully effective once manual processing is significantly reduced and digital workflows become standard.
BIDA has also reorganised its structure around the investor journey, integrating promotion, policy support, operations and digital services.
The reforms are part of a 180-day action plan covering 25 initiatives across infrastructure, facilitation and investment development, with about 40 per cent already completed.
Key measures include a representative office in Guangzhou, advancement of the Chinese Economic Zone after cabinet approval, streamlined intellectual property services and exploration of private participation in underused state-owned enterprises.
Ashik said the agency is working toward a unified national investment pipeline to reduce duplication across institutions.
He cautioned against relying on registration figures alone, saying they do not reflect actual investment realisation and often miss SMEs that play a significant economic role.
Despite the reform push, he identified energy shortages as the most binding constraint, with gas and electricity gaps repeatedly cited by investors.
While renewable energy expansion is ongoing, he said resolving supply constraints will take sustained effort over several years.
Officials said the overall goal of the reforms is to improve predictability, accelerate approvals and strengthen investor confidence to support job creation and investment inflows.
