United International University

“Report on the RMG Industry of Bangladesh”

Submitted to
Lecturer
Dr. Seyama Sultana
School of Business and Economics

Prepared By
Name ID
Sk Al Mukaddim Zulfiquer 111221102
Md Nazmul Hossain Sopnil 111221140
Hasan Ahamad Shihab 111212094
Jonayed Hasan Sami 111221113
Sk. Tanver Islam 111221044
Letter of Transmittal
8th April, 2023

Dr. Seyama Sultana

Assistant Lecturer
School of Business and Economics
United International University
Subject: Report on RMG industry of Bangladesh
Dear madam,
With all due respect, we the students of BBA department Section – B; Team Cheese Burger have
made a report on the RMG sector of Bangladesh under the course Business Communication
(BUS 2112), as per your demand and instructions.
As undergraduate students we are well aware of the stakes, the necessity of analyzing and critical
thinking is patent. This task has garner insight in this sector, furthermore enlightened us to work
as a team. Undoubtedly, it has been interesting experience for all of us.
Therefore, we would like to thank you for introducing such an incredible idea for the report
because without your humble guidance and teaching expertise, the practical areas of the course
would have been completely stale.
Sincerely,
Velvet Cypher
Participants

• Sk Al Mukaddim Zulfiquer
• Md Nazmul Hossain Sopnil
• Hasan Ahamad Shihab
• Jonayed Hasan Sami
• Sk. Tanver Islam
Section – B
School of Business and Economics, United International University

ii
Acknowledgement
First and foremost, we would like to transmit our heartfelt gratitude to our lecturer Dr. Seyama
Sultana. She expertly instructed and encouraged us. Without her relentless assistance, the
purpose of this task would not have been accomplished, and we could not have completed it
effectively. She motivated us to finish this term assignment on time. She is always there to help
and guide us on how to complete our project in order to achieve a positive conclusion. In an act
of appreciation to her efforts as a lecturer, we shall always embark for greatness and gather as
much knowledge as we can to further unlock our potentials.

Finally, we would have not been able to complete this without the effort and cooperation from
our group members who are respectively Mukaddim, Shihab, Sopnil, Sami and Tanvir. We
diligently worked as a team to gather information and collect as much insight we could, so that
we could make this report. We worked with dedication to fulfill our task that was assigned to
each of the members of the team to finish our report as instructed.

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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................. 1
Background of the Report ......................................................................................................................... 1
Objective of the Report: ........................................................................................................................... 2
Methodology:............................................................................................................................................ 2
Limitation: ................................................................................................................................................. 2
READY-MADE GARMENTS ............................................................................................................................. 3
Brief Description of RMG Industry ............................................................................................................ 3
Major businesses of the industry .............................................................................................................. 6
Industry contribution to the whole economy ........................................................................................... 9
OVERVIEW OF THE INDUSTRY..................................................................................................................... 10
History of RMG In Bangladesh ................................................................................................................ 10
Uses and Application of Computers in Bangladesh at present: on specific industry ............................. 11
Use of the Internet and social media ...................................................................................................... 11
Use of Cloud computing in RMG ............................................................................................................. 12
PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS ....................................................................................................................... 12
Problems ................................................................................................................................................. 12
Government Initiatives ........................................................................................................................... 14
FUTURE PROSPECTS ................................................................................................................................ 16
References .................................................................................................................................................. 20

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 Executive Summary

RMG industry is the biggest foreign revenue source of Bangladesh, the “made in
Bangladesh” logo is widely renowned for the craftsmanship of our country. The
significance of this industry is unfathomable in economic perspective. Every
year earning tremendous amount of money just by exporting textile products.

From the late Nurul Qader’s initiatives to today’s gigantic market of textile
products in Bangladesh. Development of this sector has been surprising for a
third world country thrive in the given circumstances after the war in 1971, it has
been beneficial over all for the countries own development. Currently
Bangladesh being the second most exporter of textile and garments products
in the whole world, because of major companies like Ha-meem, Beximco, DBL
fashions etc. The rate of development is increasing as new-new business is
being born every day dedicating their model on Ready Made Garments, with
highly professional, accountable, committed entrepreneurs are joining this
game.

However, there are few problems that this industry is facing that our research
suggest. The insufficient raw material to work with, poor work environment for
the labours, gender discrimination, unqualified managerial aspect of the
business has indicated strict and prompt actions must need to be taken or else
it may damper the overall industry. This culture of inconsistency and this cold
outlook towards the workers has created certain incidents which we have
covered in this report.

Our research and collaborative work have suggestions for our counties RMG
industry which include of mitigating the long-term issue through assertive
government initiatives, that might change the industries culture for the good.
From expert supervision of the factories to creating training programs for the
workers to even handling the gender issues that appears in this line of work.

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1 RMG Industry of Bangladesh

INTRODUCTION
Background of the Report

In Bangladesh’s fast-growing economy, the textile and garments industry are one of the biggest
sources of growth. The RMG industry acts as a catalyst for the development of Bangladesh. RMG
stands for Ready Made Garments. Exports of textiles and garments are the principal source of
foreign exchange earnings Agriculture for domestic consumption is Bangladesh’s largest
employment sector. By 2002 exports of textiles, clothing, and ready-made garments (RMG)
accounted for 77% of Bangladesh’s total merchandise exports. By 2013, about 4 million people,
mostly women, worked in Bangladesh’s $19 billion a year industry, export-oriented ready-made
garment (RMG) industry.

After the independence in 1971, Bangladesh was one of the poorest countries in the world. Due to
the discriminatory attitude and policies of the then-west Pakistani government, no major industries
were developed in Bangladesh when it was known as East Pakistan. So, rebuilding the war-ravaged
country with limited resources was a big challenge. However, this didn’t stop from the industry to
flourish under the vision of the late Nurul Quader Khan. He is considered one of the pioneers of
the ready-made garments industry of Bangladesh, his vision to reshape the country to its utmost
glorious form was a success. Later on, many entrepreneurs started their own respected factories,
slowly this sector started to gain popularity and earned its reputation. This surprising development
of the countries RMG industry took Bangladesh to the next economic level. Bangladesh’s Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) was estimated at USD 6.29 billion and it grew to USD 35.3 billion by
the year 2021, almost 82% of which were Ready-Made Garments

Our lecturer has instructed us to report on any major industry of Bangladesh, and we have selected
the RMG sector. We have conducted most of our research through the web and also brainstormed
ideas to further implement this information on the report. This report will be focusing on the
progress of RMG sector in Bangladesh’s perspective, and we will analyzing the future prospects
and opportunity of this industry.

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Objective of the Report:

Major objective: The objective of the study is to prepare report on “The RMG industry of
Bangladesh”

Specific Objective:

• To gather knowledge about the RMG sector of Bangladesh

• To identify the difficulties and barriers faced in RMG Sector
• To identify possible opportunity and threats to the RMG Sector
• To Analyze the future prospect of RMG Sector.
• To Figure out the government initiative on RMG Sector.

Methodology:
The study requires systematic procedures from selection of the topic to preparation of the final
report. To perform this study, the data sources were to be identified and collected from the web
with the help of the internet since we couldn’t manage time and we are staying at remote areas
from each other, we couldn’t visit factory. We made a call to an employee of a factory in this sector
to get some detailed information, this data collection fall under the category of primary source.
The references are given in the end of the report.

Limitation:
Although the maximum efforts have been put to collect information some inevitable
limitations were certain to face:
• The interview was conducted shortly over a zoom call during professional hours which
only allowed limited time to extract data more profoundly.
• As this report only covers information about the headquarter, the system may differ
related to other branches.

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READY-MADE GARMENTS
Brief Description of RMG Industry
The readymade garments industry acts as an incentive for the development of Bangladesh. The
"Made in Bangladesh" tag has also brought glory for the country, making it a prestigious brand
across the globe. Bangladesh, which was once termed by cynics a "bottomless basket" has now
become a "basket full of wonders." The country with its limited resources has been maintaining
6% annual average GDP growth rate and has brought about remarkable social and human
development.
After the independence in 1971, Bangladesh was one of poorest countries in the world. No major
industries were developed in Bangladesh, when it was known as East Pakistan, due to
discriminatory attitude and policies of the government of the then West Pakistan. So, rebuilding
the war-ravaged country with limited resources appeared to be the biggest challenge.

The industry that has been making crucial contribution to rebuilding the country and its economy
is none other than the readymade garment (RMG) industry which is now the single biggest export
earner for Bangladesh. The sector accounts for 83% of total export earnings of the country.

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4 RMG Industry of Bangladesh

When our only major export earner "the jute industry" started losing its golden days, it is the RMG
sector that replaced it, and then, to overtake it.

The apparel industry of Bangladesh started its journey in the 1980s and has come to the position
it is in today. The late NuroolQuader Khan was the pioneer of the readymade garment industry in
Bangladesh. He had a vision of how to transform the country. In 1978, he sent 130 trainees to
South Korea where they learned how to produce readymade garments.

With those trainees, he set up the first factory "Desh Garments” to produce garments for export.
At the same time, the late Akhter Mohammad Musa of Bond Garments, the late Mohammad
Reazuddin of Reaz Garments, MdHumayun of Paris Garments, Engineer Mohammad Fazlul Azim
of Azim Group, Major (Retd) Abdul Mannan of Sunman Group, M Shamsur Rahman of Style
craft Limited, the first President of BGMEA, AM Subid Ali of Aristocrat Limited also came
forward and established some of the first garment factories in Bangladesh.

Following their footsteps, other prudent and hardworking entrepreneurs started RMG factories in
the country. Since then, Bangladeshi garment industry did not need to look behind. Despite many

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5 RMG Industry of Bangladesh

difficulties faced by the sector over the past years, it has carved a niche in world market and kept
continuing to show robust performance.

Since the early days, different sources of impetus have contributed to the development and
maturity of the industry at various stages. We learned about child-labor in 1994, and successfully
made the industry free from child labor in 1995.

The MFA-quota was a blessing to our industry to take root, gradually develop and mature. While
the quota was approaching to an end in 2004, it was predicted by many that the phase-out would
incur a massive upset in our export.

However, the post-MFA era is another story of success. Proving all the predictions wrong, we
conquered the post-MFA challenges. Now the apparel industry is Bangladesh's biggest export
earner with value of over $27.9 billion of exports in 2019-20 financial year (Systech Digital
Limited, 2020).

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Major businesses of the industry

At this moment, Bangladesh is one of the quickest-growing nations in the garments sector on this
planet. With a GDP of 324.2 billion USD (2020), the nation is currently the third biggest economy
in Southeast Asia. Millions of people worldwide wear clothes with the “Made in Bangladesh” tag,
which brings great honor to Bangladesh.

Till the end of the last century, Jute was the primary source of export revenue. But since the
beginning of the 20th century, the readymade garments over took jute and became the primary
wellspring of the country’s GDP. In the 2020/21 fiscal year, Bangladesh was positioned as the
second-largest producer of readymade garments and earned $31.5 billion by exporting.

Bangladesh has undergone a critical upgrade after the Rana Plaza tragedy. Since then, the country’s
leading garments have become more proactive in establishing convenient workplaces for workers.
There are more than 50 eco-friendly apparel manufacturing facilities in the country. This country
is home to some of the world’s most popular garment manufacturers who does business with
established brands like Gap, H&M, Adidas, Puma, Nike, JCPenney, etc.

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TOP 10 BEST READYMADE GARMENTS MANUFACTURERS IN BANGLADESH

There are over four thousand garment factories, and many of them have significant participation
in the overall economy. Here are the ten best garments manufacturers in Bangladesh.

1. Ha-meem Group

Ha-meem Group is a Bangladeshi apparel manufacturing company and a leading supplier of

readymade garments and denim fabric globally. Currently, they have 26 garment factories, 300
production lines, and seven washing plants across the country. This prominent company has one
of the most resourceful production facilities in Bangladesh, and they produce some of the trendy,
fashionable denim and garments products in the world.

Ha-meem Group

Over the years, the Ha-meem group has worked with the biggest names in the fashion industry like
– ZARA, GAP, H&M, JCPenney, etc. This company has been in the textile business since 1984,
and currently, they have around 50,000 workers. The major products of this garment company are
Denim Jeans, Men’s Shirts, Dress Pants, Jackets Facility, and others.

2. Beximco Apparels Limited

Beximco Apparels Ltd. started its commercial production in March 1985 under the name of
Comtrade Apparels Ltd., a swiss company. Later in 1997, the Beximco group took complete
control of this company and renamed it Beximco Apparels Ltd (BAL). BAL is a 100% export-
oriented garments manufacturing company that produces woven fabric garments like men’s
dresses, casual shirts, and ladies’ blouses (tops and bottoms).

Beximco Apparels Limited

Beximco Apparels Limited is run by a group of specialists seeking to produce high-quality clothing
using a full-proof quality control system from fabric sourcing to the final product. Currently, this
garment employs 870+ employees and a production capacity of 8000 pcs per day, and it primarily
exports its garment products to the USA, Canada, and European countries.

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3. Square Fashions Ltd.

Square Fashions Ltd is also a pretty big name in producing a wide range of readymade knit apparel
like Polo Shirts, T-Shirts, Tank tops, Trousers, Hooded jackets & Cardigan, Undergarments, and
Kid’s Wear. They produce garment items from circular knit fabrics. The company was established
in 1997, and now they have two garment units and two fabric units. This company believes in
sustainable goals and preserving the biological establishment of nature.

Square Fashions Ltd.

That’s why they are promised to maintain an environment-friendly workplace for their more than
13000 workers. It’s notable to mention that this company was awarded “Best Workers’ Friendly
Knitwear Industry” in Bangladesh. SFL is a sister concern of the square group, and its garment
units can produce more than 100000 pcs per day, and fabric units have a production rate of 39.5
tons of fabric per day. Some of their clients are – PUMA, G-Star, TOMMY HILFIGER,
Timberland, etc.

4. DBL Group

Established in 1991, DBL Group was a family business with the name of Dulal Brothers Limited.
Over the years, this company evolved and became one of Bangladesh’s most pertinent textile and
clothing companies. They are also recognized in the country as a knitwear firm. There are currently
35,000 people working for this company. They sell various garment products to influential clothing
brands around the world like H&M, Walmart-George, Puma, Esprit, etc.

DBL Group

They are well-known for having high-quality production facilities to make clothes. This garment
company can produce 13 million pcs per month with a ratio of 40% for women, 40% for kids, and
20% for men.

5. Epyllion Group

Established in 1994, Epyllion Group is one of Bangladesh’s largest garment companies as a

manufacturer and exporter of Knit apparel, which has a solid backward linkage to knit garments,

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textiles, wet processing, and clothing-accessory products. With a state-of-the-art, vertically

integrated garment production facility, customers can expect seamless service from this company.
Several well-known clothing brands from Europe, United States, and Australia have entrusted this
company with their garment manufacturing needs (Rahaman, 2022).

Industry contribution to the whole economy

The ready-made garments (RMG) sector of Bangladesh has got a greater face than any other sector
in terms of growth and foreign exchange earnings. It makes a significant contribution to the
national economy by creating generous employment opportunities and reducing poverty through
socioeconomic development.

Bangladesh exported garments worth USD 3.8billion in December 2021 and this took the annual
export figure to USD 35.57billion. The country’s RMG export earnings in the

aforementioned quarter of FY22 were USD 11184.76 million, which was 2.97 percent lower

than the previous quarter but 40.36 percent higher than the same quarter of last year and 26.99

percent higher than the quarterly export target at one time.

This figure was USD 2.5billion higher than the previous record of USD 33.07billion which was
set in 2019. Bangladesh’s profit from RMG is around 34 billion USD yearly. Which makes
Bangladesh to be the second-largest exporter of clothing, first being China. Day by day the industry
is growing, by 2002 textile, apparel, and ready-made garments exports accounted for 77% of
Bangladesh’s total exports. In 2003-04 RMG sector of Bangladesh earned USD 5686.06 million,
in FY 2005-06 the value grew to USD 7900.80 million, in FY 2006-07 it was USD 9211.23
million, then again in FY 2007-08 the number grew again to USD 10699.80 million lastly at 2013-
14 the value summed up to24.49 billion.

The staggering growth of this industry is astonishing. RMG became the top exported sector of
Bangladesh, even over throwing agriculture sector. This progression took a third world country
like ours to a different stage of civilization. RMG industry development is but a spark to a greater
evolution.

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The future looks bright for Bangladesh's RMG sector after a period of profound uncertainty due
to the global pandemic. The latest apparel export figures show that, despite the coronavirus
pandemic and global lockdowns in key markets, Bangladesh set a new record for apparel exports
in the 2021 calendar year.

OVERVIEW OF THE INDUSTRY

History of RMG In Bangladesh
In the 60th decade of the 19th century, the foundation of the textile industry was initially laid. In
1965–1966, the industry exported shirts (Mercury shirts), made in Karachi, for the first time to the
European market. Nine exporting industries were available in the latter in 1977–1978. Riaz
Garments, Jewel Garments, and Paris Garments were the three biggest industries at the time. The
most well-known and established of these was Riaz Garments at the time.

When Mohammad Reaz Uddin first launched his company, Riaz Garments, it had a tailoring shop
by the same name. Later, the name changed to Riaz Garments from the Riaz store in 1973, and the
business began exporting goods to other countries in 1978 by sending 1 million pieces of clothing
to the South Korean company "Olanda." Another innovator in the RMG industry in Bangladesh is
"Desh Garments." Desh Garments and the South Korean firm "Daiyuu" launched a cooperative
initiative in 1979.

Several clothing companies, including Stylecraft Limited by Shamsur Rahman, Aristocraft

Limited by AM Subid Ali, Azim Group by Engineer Mohammad Fazlul Azim, and Sunman Group
by Major (Retd) Abdul Mannan, were also introduced at the same time.

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Uses and Application of Computers in Bangladesh at present: on specific

industry
Computers and applications are widely used in modern day business climate. CAD is the
contraction which stands for Computer Aided Design and CAM is the computer Aided
Manufacturing. Varied individuals working in mechanical engineering, production, and design
have different interpretations of this phrase. The textile business has seen a transformation thanks
to CAD, or computer-aided design. CAD has simplified the time-consuming and difficult process
of designing textiles.

However, in our country, the textile and apparel business are reliant on hiring members of our
society's lower classes. Therefor to this day uses and application of computers haven’t affected
the RMG industry of Bangladesh.

Use of the Internet and social media

They do Social Media Marketing for RMG Industries. They have monthly around 2,00,000
garments and textile visitors from all social media. Social media marketing is the use of social
media platforms and websites to promote a product or service online. At present B2B, B2C and
other types of websites use social media channels.

• Facebook Marketing
• Twitter Marketing
• LinkedIn Marketing
• Tumbler Marketing

Social media has changed the ways in which brands were previously built. Repeated and

integrated use of social media today includes

A positive and enduring branding image of the companies has been greatly helped by blogging,

micro blogging, photo and video sharing, and social networking sites.

Leading companies across a variety of industries are now using it as a standard online media

approach. With a focus on Bangladesh' s Ready Made Garments (RMG) business, the current

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study makes an effort to evaluate the function of social media in B2B brand building. The

current study embodies the collecting of primary and secondary data as well as their analyses,

with the secondary data coming from recently published research findings and the primary data

coming from the original sources. Social media may therefore be seen as a tool for integrated

marketing that will assure B2B brand development for the Bangladeshi RMG business as a

whole specifically their RMG factories (Uddin, RMG factories in the social media age, 2019).

Use of Cloud computing in RMG

Since the sector is still migrating toward the digital platform, it will take some time for it to become
more active in these settings, thus we haven't found anything about this topic yet. We spoke with
a couple RMG managers as well, but they were similarly unfamiliar with this, so we left it blank.

PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS

Problems
The ready-made garments (RMG) sector has a greater potential than any other sector in terms of
employment and foreign exchange earnings to reduce poverty and make a contribution to the
national economy. Along with its potentiality the sector is also experiencing new challenges which
can be the future determinants of its sustainability. The present study has made on descriptive
research, is conducted to identify different dimension of challenges in readymade garment industry
in Bangladesh and a feasible solution to cope up the challenges. To accomplish result research
technique has relied based on information from secondary sources. From the inception of RMG in
1978 Bangladesh has seen a tremendous growth of the number of factories in consistent with the
amount of export. In year 1983-84 there were only 134 RMG units where only 40000 workers
were working in this sector but in 2013-2014 the number of RMG units increases around 6000
with the employment of around 4.2 million workers among them almost 80% are female. This

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sector also faces a lot of challenges like unskilled workers, improper infrastructure, electricity
crisis, gas shortage, insufficient bank loan associated with high rate of interest, high tax rate,
intricate social compliance, political crisis, market and product diversification, lack of new
investment, poor backward and forward linkage etc. In order to overcome these challenges, we
need to take number collaborative and coordinated steps to be taken from both owners and major
stakeholders to reach the ultimate goal of achieving the top position in the world apparel market.

Raw materials:

Bangladesh imports raw materials for garments like cotton, thread color etc. This dependence on
raw materials hampers the development of garments industry. Moreover, foreign suppliers often
supply low quality materials, which result in low quality products

Unskilled workers:

Most of the illiterate women workers employed in garments are unskilled and so their products
often become lower in quality.

Improper working environment:

Taking the advantages of workers’ poverty and ignorance the owners forced them to work in
unsafe and unhealthy workplace overcrowded with workers beyond the capacity of the factory
floor and improper ventilation.

Most of the garment factories in our country lack the basic amenities where our garment workers
sweat their brows from morning to evening to earn our countries the major portion of our foreign
exchange. Anybody visiting the factory the first impression he or she will have that these workers
are in a roost.

Improper ventilation, stuffy situation, filthy rooms are the characteristics of the majority of our
factories. The owners’ profit is the first priority and this attitude has gone to such an extent that
they do not care about their lives.

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Lack of managerial knowledge:

There are some other problems which are associated with this sector. Those are- lack of marketing
tactics, absence of easily on-hand middle management, a small number of manufacturing methods,
lack of training organizations for industrial workers, supervisors and managers, autocratic
approach of nearly all the investors, fewer process units for textiles and garments, sluggish
backward or forward blending procedure, incompetent ports, entry/exit complicated and
loading/unloading takes much time, time-consuming custom clearance etc.

The gendered division of labor:

In the garment industry in Bangladesh, tasks are allocated largely on the basis of gender. This
determines many of the working conditions of women workers. All the workers in the sewing
section are women, while almost all those in the cutting, ironing and finishing sections are men.
Women workers are absorbed in a variety of occupations from cutting, sewing, inserting buttons,
making button holes, checking, cleaning the threads, ironing, folding, packing and training to
supervising.

Women work mainly as helpers, machinists and less frequently, as line supervisors and quality
controllers. There are no female cutting masters. Men dominate the administrative and
management level jobs. Women are discriminated against in terms of access to higher-paid white
collar and management positions (assignmentpoint, 20003).

Government Initiatives
After the incident at Tajreen Fahions Ltd. Bangladesh government has taken serious actions
against the corruptions that incur in these garments factories. Majority of the workers in RMG
industries are from poor households, working for a low-wage making ends meet. To tackle the
corruption Bangladesh government took legal, administrative and few safety and welfare steps to
prevent from these kinds of scenarios to repeat itself.

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Regarding Rana Plaza collapse criminal cases have been filed against the owners of the building
and the owners of 5 garments factories housed in the building. The RAJUK has also filed a case
against Savar Pouroshava. The police have arrested the owners of the building, owners of the
factories and the Engineers of Savar Pouroshava. All the cases are under investigation. In addition
to that The DIFE has filed 11 cases with The Labour Court against the owners of the building and
the factories under the provision of Labour Law. The cases are under trial.

Amendment of Labour Law 2006: The Government has taken positive initiatives to amend existing
Bangladesh Labour Law 2006. The Cabinet has given final approval on Draft Labour Law
amendment proposalwhich has already been placed before the Parliament. The Amendment Bill
has been sent to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Labour and
Employment for scrutiny. The Amendment Bill contains the provisions which would allow
workers’ right to form Trade Union in the easiest way, ensure safety of the workers and factories,
provision of compulsory insurance system, enhancement of gratuity etc

Government has declared Minimum Wage Board for RMG sector to review the salary and
allowances of the workers considering the present cost of living.

With the co-operation of ILO many buyers, international organizations and individual countries
have come forward with proposals of assistance in promoting safety measures in factories,
developing working environment to ensure the labour welfare. They have also expressed their
keenness to assist the families of the deceased workers and provide medical assistance to the
injured workers especially those who lost their limbs in Rana Plaza collapse. The Government has
taken steps to provide artificial limbs to the disabled workers. Steps are also been taken for their
rehabilitation and required training. It is to be mentioned here that the Government of Thailand
and the Government of India has proposed to transplant artificial limbs to the injured persons who
have suffered by amputation. The proposal is under process of implementation.

BGMEA with the help of the owners and other stakeholders has paid all the dues to the workers
in time in all the 3 cases. BGMEA has launched a crash programme for providing fire safety
training to 35000 workers employees and owners.

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FUTURE PROSPECTS
The future looks bright for Bangladesh's RMG sector after a period of profound uncertainty due
to the global pandemic. The latest apparel export figures show that, despite the coronavirus
pandemic and global lockdowns in key markets, Bangladesh set a new record for apparel exports
in the 2021 calendar year.

Bangladesh exported garments worth USD 3.8bn in December 2021 and this took the annual
export figure to USD 35.57bn. This figure was USD 2.5bn higher than the previous record of USD
33.07bn which was set in 2019.

That Bangladesh RMG exporters have been able to bounce back so spectacularly from the
economic tsunami of 2020 offers an indication of their tenacity, resilience, and ingenuity. These
characteristics will be vital in the years ahead as the RMG sector seeks to adapt and innovate in
line with shifting customer demands and a broader societal move towards more responsibly and
sustainably produced products.

So, what does the future hold for Bangladesh's RMG sector and how significant will our industry
be in terms of Bangladesh's broader economic growth prospects?

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First of all, some perspective. In terms of exports, the RMG sector contributes around 83 percent
of all export earnings for Bangladesh. This figure tends to vary from year to year but has been in
the 80s for several years now.

With regards overall Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the RMG sector's contribution to overall
GDP is around 11-12 percent, and the trend for this figure has been downwards in recent years.
This is an issue which we need to address because although our industry is a vital source of exports
and job creation and has helped put Bangladesh on the global economic map, it's actual
contribution to GDP is relatively small.

In considering the future of the industry, we must ask ourselves how this poor GDP contribution
level can be addressed.

The issue, which is well recognized, is that export earnings from the RMG sector are mainly
dependent on four to five basic products, including T-shirts, sweaters and other knitted products.
There is a very high dependence on cotton-made products and less use of man-made fibers,
particularly high value fibers such as viscose.

This lack of a diversified product base coupled with relatively low rates of private research and
development and reinvestment have held our industry back and hitherto prevented it from fulfilling
its true potential.

To achieve this potential in the coming years and remain globally competitive, the RMG industry
needs to take a number of steps.

First of all, RMG manufacturers need to adopt a more long-term approach by investing more in
research and development and in new growth areas such as technical textiles. Investing in higher
value areas, where products are more specialized, will enable garment makers to attract a higher
price premium and put them in a better bargaining position with fashion buyers.

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Over the next 12-18 months, I expect our industry to consolidate on the successes of 2021 and
continue to grow export revenues.

We have seen other countries, notably China, diversify into higher added value garment production
and this is the next logical step for Bangladesh. This in turn will also enable the RMG industry to
make a higher contribution to GDP and living standards.

The second area to consider is speed and agility. Faster, faster, faster is the mantra in our industry
right now. The move to digital purchasing, which is progressing at lightning speed—and has
increased due to lockdowns—means fashion buyers are looking for increased speed and agility
from their garment makers.

We should closely watch stories such as that of Shein, the Chinese online brand here. This brand
works closely with a select group of suppliers in China, all within two hours of its HQ, which
provide it with rapid turnaround times and ensure Shein can quickly have the latest fashion trends
up on its website.

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Bangladesh garment-makers along with the government and other industry stakeholders need to
consider how we can increase speed to market for our products. This will include internal
investments at individual factories as well as broader investment by policymakers in tackling port
congestion, improving logistics infrastructure and reducing lead times.

How else can we be more competitive? As well as increasing quality and speed, another area of
focus must be sustainability. The issue of sustainability actually ties in with costing and price and
the required move towards higher added value products discussed above.

Increasingly, I am seeing more and more buyers demanding that their vendors produce products
responsibly and sustainably. Many buyers now ask that their suppliers adhere to certain standards
or eco-textile labels governing social and environmental standards. Therefore, from a purely
practical standpoint, it is imperative that all suppliers in Bangladesh look to adhere to the highest
possible production standards in the coming years. These will increasingly become a "must have"
or prerequisite of doing business in our industry moving forwards (Uddin, Future bright for RMG
sector after record year, 2022 ).

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References
assignmentpoint. (20003). Retrieved from https://assignmentpoint.com/problems-garments-industry-
bangladesh/

Rahaman, K. M. (2022). Top 10 Readymade Garments (RMG) Manufacturer Companies in Bangladesh.

Major Business, 1.

Systech Digital Limited. (2020). BGMEA . (Systech Digital Limited) Retrieved from The Bangladesh
Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association:
https://www.bgmea.com.bd/page/AboutGarmentsIndustry#:~:text=The%20industry%20that%2
0has%20been,export%20earnings%20of%20the%20country

Uddin, M. (2019). RMG factories in the social media age. Digital marketing is the key to growth in this
day and age, 1.

Uddin, M. (2022 ). Future bright for RMG sector after record year. Blueprint For a Brighter Tomorrow, 1.

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