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Information and Communication Technology Division

division · verified (verified 2026-05-17)

Profile

Head
Kazi Anwar Hossain
Role
Secretary
Annual budget
৳21,440,000,000
Staff
—
Established
2014
Legal basis
Rules of Business 1996 (amended); ICT Division formally separated from Ministry of ICT on 10 February 2014 when it was merged into Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology

Driving finalization of the National AI Policy 2026-2030 (Draft v2, February 9) while managing ICT sector reform under a new BNP-led government that published a 472-page white paper on 15 years of ICT mismanagement; ICT exports reached $724.6M in FY2024-25 against a $5B target, and the division is coordinating with BIDA on semiconductor industry development.

Recent activity

Provenance & notes

annual_budget_bdt stores the FY2025-26 ICT Division allocation of Tk 2,144 crore = 21,440,000,000 BDT. The National AI Policy 2026-2030 as of this record's verification date is still in draft (v2.0); no evidence of formal cabinet approval was found, so the event is correctly labelled 'policy' (draft release) not 'regulation'. The head recorded is the Secretary (Kazi Anwar Hossain, as of March 29, 2026); the Minister (Fakir Mahbub Anam Swapan) oversees the parent ministry and is recorded as a notable event. Semiconductor incentive: current rate is 6-10% cash incentive on IT-enabled service exports; BSIA seeking 25% for chip design specifically; no formal ICT Division incentive order was enacted within the 90-day window -- the semiconductor entry records the Feb 2026 BSIA-SICIP training partnership and ongoing taskforce work, not an unverified policy approval. ICT export figure ($724.6M, FY2024-25) is from EPB/TBS reporting; the $5B government target was missed by a large margin. established_year 2014 reflects the date the ICT Division was formally constituted as a separate division under the merged Ministry (February 10, 2014); the earlier Ministry of ICT dates to 2011 but that was a full ministry, not the current division structure.

Sources