Bangladesh’s information technology (IT) sector has come a long way from an industry that barely existed as an export business in the early 2000s. Taking IT or IT-enabled services (ITES) exports from more than $1 billion today to $5 billion by 2031, as planned, will require more than organic growth in low-cost outsourcing. Bangladesh needs higher-value services, an artificial intelligence (AI)-ready workforce, stronger infrastructure, easier access to capital and credible intellectual-property protection.
In the early 2000s, Bangladesh’s software and ITES exports were less than $15 million a year. Local entrepreneurs worked on a small scale, developing basic software, designing and maintaining websites and serving local clients alongside a few overseas customers. The turning point came in the late 2000s and early 2010s as global digitalisation accelerated, personal computers spread, and internet costs fell.
The arrival of 3G and 4G networks and international submarine cables further changed the landscape. Young Bangladeshis entered global freelancing, moving from graphic design and data entry to full-stack web development and more sophisticated digital services.
Software firms expanded into North America, Europe and East Asia, while business process outsourcing (BPO) call centres began serving global clients. Bangladesh started shifting from an agrarian economy towards a software and offshore-services destination.
Official Export Promotion Bureau figures put information and communication technology (ICT) service exports at approximately $724.6 million in FY2024-25. Computer services accounted for nearly $629.5 million, including custom software development, consultancy, hardware support and ITES, with telecommunications and information services making up the remainder. But the official numbers understate the sector.
Freelancers, small digital agencies and firms using international partnership arrangements often receive payments through informal or direct channels that are not fully captured. True IT/ITES exports are estimated at more than $1 billion annually, while the broader technology sector employs roughly 500,000 people.
The government targeted $5 billion in IT exports by 2025 but missed it because of structural bottlenecks, limited large-scale investment and international marketing hurdles. The target has since been recalibrated to 2031. The challenge is to scale a roughly $1 billion sector fivefold.
BPO offers one of the fastest ways to connect Bangladesh’s young workforce to global demand. Specialised software engineering takes years to develop, while Bangladesh produces hundreds of thousands of university graduates annually. Many remain unemployed or underemployed because traditional corporate opportunities are limited; BPO can absorb large numbers after short training.
The BPO sector already generates more than $700 million in revenue and employs more than 100,000 professionals directly. Its services include customer service management, back-office administration, technical support, telemarketing and digital content moderation. Basic computer literacy and functional English can be developed in three to six weeks for live customer interactions and structured administrative tasks.
Regional BPO centres in secondary cities could create thousands of formal jobs for fresh graduates, generate foreign exchange immediately, provide workplace experience and reduce pressure on Dhaka. But BPO cannot be the ceiling of Bangladesh’s technology ambition.
More than 50 percent of Bangladesh’s population is under 28, and the country produces around 22,000 computer science and ICT graduates annually. Millions of young people are exploring digital tools, raising the question of whether Bangladesh is missing another opportunity to leapfrog through AI. The Oxford Insights Government AI Readiness Index placed Bangladesh around 80th globally in its 2024 edition, with an overall score of 47.12 out of 100. Its government, technology and data-and-infrastructure pillars scored 58.52, 26.26 and 56.59, respectively.
Many young Bangladeshis use ChatGPT and Gemini for writing, academic queries and code debugging, but much of this remains superficial. AI is often treated as a writing assistant or novelty chatbot rather than a means of building complex applications, automating workflows or engineering data solutions. The priority should be moving young people from passive users to active technical innovators. If they remain in low-level routine work while global competitors develop advanced AI, automation could neutralise Bangladesh’s demographic advantage.
The country can leapfrog if it starts early. The months after secondary and higher-secondary examinations could teach structured computational thinking, AI ethics, data logic and prompt engineering. Early deep-tech readiness could turn the demographic dividend into world-class economic output.
AI is an existential threat to parts of Bangladesh’s existing IT business and a major opportunity for its next generation of exports. Generative AI and automated agents are replacing basic repetitive IT work, including traditional call centres, simple data entry and entry-level programming. Reliance on low-cost basic outsourcing therefore risks losing market share to automated platforms. But AI also creates demand for human-in-the-loop work.
AI models require vast amounts of high-quality human-curated data, creating demand for data labelling, image annotation, voice-transcript validation and content moderation. Global organisations also need affordable human talent to integrate existing AI models into business operations.
Bangladesh therefore needs to shift its workforce from routine outsourcing towards AI-driven tasks. It need not compete across every segment of the global IT market to reach $5 billion; it should specialise in two niches where it has a comparative advantage.
AI’s expansion into healthcare, autonomous vehicles, e-commerce and robotics is creating enormous demand for structured datasets. The first bet is AI data annotation, labelling and dataset curation. Computer-vision image annotation, audio tagging and model-output checking require attention to detail but not advanced software-engineering degrees. Targeted short training could enable thousands of Bangladeshis to perform high-volume data curation. This would be a natural evolution of the BPO model, with higher profit margins and greater long-term relevance.
The second bet is software quality assurance (QA) and automated testing. Every software product, mobile app and corporate system requires rigorous testing, which demands structured thinking, systematic bug tracking and testing frameworks. QA is a middle ground: full software engineering takes years, while graduates can be trained over three to six months to become certified QA engineers. Bangladesh could build a global hub for cost-effective software testing without competing across the entire software-development value chain.
The skills gap begins with the disconnect between university curricula and the global technology market. Many computer science graduates leave university with theoretical knowledge but limited experience with modern frameworks, cloud platforms, automated testing tools and practical AI application engineering. Weak professional English also blocks access to higher-paying remote roles and direct foreign-client relationships.
Government and industry associations need to restructure technology education. Universities should co-design computer science curricula with leading IT firms and teach active, industry-relevant technologies. AI literacy should extend beyond computer science. Students of agriculture, law, business, medicine and the humanities should learn discipline-specific AI applications. Bangladesh needs cross-sector AI capability.
Nationwide subsidised bootcamps should focus on AI data management, cybersecurity operations, cloud computing and automated QA, with business communication and English integrated into all technical training.
Skills alone will not produce $5 billion in exports. Bangladesh is connected to multiple submarine cables and has built hi-tech parks, but frequent connectivity disruptions, limited high-performance computing and power instability continue to erode buyer confidence. A $5 billion export sector needs uninterrupted power and high-speed broadband across all administrative divisions, plus more fully operational submarine and terrestrial cable connections to provide bandwidth redundancy during maintenance or failures.
AI also requires compute power. Government and private-sector investment in cloud-computing credits, local server banks and specialised graphics processing units (GPUs) would allow local developers and students to train machine-learning models without exorbitant cost barriers. Hi-tech parks should provide pre-configured high-speed internet, continuous backup power and streamlined regulatory services without administrative delays.
The policy framework must meet international business standards. Bangladeshi IT firms struggle to establish overseas sales offices, hire foreign marketing teams and acquire foreign software licences because of strict outward-remittance regulations. Easier movement of capital abroad is needed for business expansion and direct export-market presence. Banks should ease margin requirements for technology loans and bank guarantees and recognise intellectual property (IP) and service contracts as valid collateral.
IP protection is equally critical. Bangladesh updated its Copyright Act 2023 and Patent Act 2023, but enforcement remains weak and slow. Global software clients, including Fortune 500 companies, will not outsource proprietary code, trade secrets or advanced AI algorithms if they fear piracy, unauthorised duplication or compromised algorithms. Bangladesh needs specialised commercial IP benches, law-enforcement personnel trained in cyber and software copyright violations and strict civil and criminal penalties.
Local software companies should also be trained in enforceable cross-border licensing agreements and IP assignment deeds. Complete protection for foreign IP could attract major foreign direct investment (FDI) and establish Bangladesh as a safe offshore destination for high-value software development.
Bangladesh’s technology sector remains heavily Dhaka-centric, leaving regional talent untapped. District-level IT training and incubation hubs with high-speed internet and modern computing facilities could allow secondary-city and rural youth to learn digital skills and freelance without relocating to Dhaka.
Subsidised broadband and targeted hardware-purchasing loans would make remote learning and digital work more accessible. Special initiatives are needed for young women, including flexible, home-based digital skills training to bridge entrenched gender disparities. Bringing rural youth and women into technology would expand the talent pool and ensure tech growth benefits all segments of society.
Bangladesh can reach $5 billion in IT exports by 2031, but not through slow organic growth. At 10–15 percent annual growth, exports would reach only around $2 billion by the end of the decade. Reaching $5 billion requires aggressive policy intervention and a massive investment-driven approach: massive skill development, early youth AI readiness, uncompromising IP protection and significant domestic and foreign direct investment.
BPO can address youth unemployment and provide an immediate export platform. AI data annotation, labelling and dataset curation can move workers into AI-linked services, while QA and automated testing can create a pathway into higher-value technical exports.
But none of these opportunities will scale without dependable digital and physical infrastructure, easier access to capital, outward capital mobility and a legal system international clients trust. Bangladesh has already caught one technology wave. The next one is AI.
The country has a young workforce, an established BPO base and a growing technology industry. It now needs to turn those advantages into higher-value capabilities before automation turns its low-cost advantage into a liability.
The $5 billion target is not about producing more of the same. It is about choosing where Bangladesh has a comparative advantage and building the skills, infrastructure, financing and legal protections to exploit it quickly.
Author is the Chairman of Bangladesh ICT & Innovation Network. The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author
