The government has taken an initiative to make the entire company registration process online, reducing lengthy delays and dependence on paperwork. Modeled on Singapore’s fast, efficient business-registration system, the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSC) is set to launch the “Electronic Business Registration System” (EBRS).
Once the new system is fully operational, entrepreneurs will be able to complete everything from name clearance to final registration from home. In the initial phase, the goal is for officials to complete verification quickly enough that new company registration can be finished within a few hours.
Progress on the new system was presented Monday at a meeting on modernizing RJSC operations, held at the commerce ministry’s conference room. The meeting was chaired by commerce ministry secretary Md Ataur Rahman Khan, with Commerce Minister Khondaker Abdul Muktadir attending as chief guest.
The commerce minister said customers will no longer need to visit the RJSC office to register a company. The organization’s operations will be fully automated to allow registration from home in a short time.
Under the new EBRS system, entrepreneurs will be able to apply for company registration online at any time. To ensure the accuracy of application data and prevent fraud, real-time pre-verification of National ID (NID), e-TIN and mobile numbers is being built in. This will make it possible to quickly flag errors or inconsistencies in applications.
Steps are also being taken to simplify the legal process of forming a company. Three options are being offered to entrepreneurs for the memorandum of association (MOA) and articles of association (AOA): a standard “model MOA and AOA”, a “customized MOA and AOA” that allows businesses to add their own clauses as needed, and a pre-approved standardized “pre-approved MOA and AOA.” Those involved expect that using the model and pre-approved documents in particular will significantly cut verification and approval times.
The Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology’s (BUET) computer science and engineering department is serving as a consultant to ensure EBRS’s technical security, reliability and quality. BUET’s expert team is monitoring various stages of software development while providing necessary technical guidance.
The software’s registration module has already successfully completed user acceptance testing (UAT). Necessary refinements based on user feedback are also in their final stages. To fully automate the process through direct links with government databases, EBRS is being integrated with the databases of several key national institutions. Work is nearly complete on connections with the Bangladesh Election Commission (EC) for voter and NID verification, the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) for verifying entrepreneurs’ mobile SIMs, and Bangladesh Data Center Company Limited (BDCCL) for cloud data security and uninterrupted service.
Under the ministry’s administrative approval, software developer Dynamic Solutions Limited (DSI) will complete the software’s final rollout and handover by January 15, 2027.
Work is under way on the back-end algorithm to make the fully automated “auto name clearance” system more accurate for the first six months’ registration-in-hours goal. Because of this, RJSC has adopted an interim strategy so that entrepreneurs’ service isn’t held up while waiting for full automation to launch.
Under the plan, for the initial six months, relevant officials will immediately re-verify name clearance once an application is submitted. If the required information and documents are in order, the goal is to finalize the registration process within a few hours. Alongside this, updates will continue to encourage businesses to use the model MOA and AOA, and to make the auto name clearance system more effective.
Those involved say that once the initiative is fully implemented, it will reduce both the time and cost entrepreneurs spend forming a company. Alongside less need for in-person visits to government offices, automatic verification of various application data will also increase transparency and accountability in the service.
This will particularly create opportunities for new entrepreneurs, startups, and domestic and foreign investors to start businesses quickly. The government believes this digital transformation of RJSC will play an important role in simplifying the business-formation process, creating an investment-friendly environment in the country, and lowering the overall cost of doing business.
The meeting was attended by commerce ministry additional secretary (ICT) and RJSC registrar (additional charge) Shibir Bichitra Barua, along with other senior officials of the organization.