Speakers in a meeting allegedly said that customers of 18 e-commerce companies accused of misappropriation of customer money did not get back the money stuck in the payment gateway. The unreturned amount is about 144 crores, they said.
They also said that those companies also cheated most last year.
This information was reported in a article of the discussion meeting on 'E-commerce and e-services sector consumer rights-our actions' organized by the Bangladesh Cell Phone Consumer Association, held at the Nasrul Hamid Auditorium of the Dhaka Reporters Unit in the capital on Tuesday.
Market analyst Kazi Abdul Hannan said, courts and government intervention in cases of misappropriation of consumer money have resulted in some refunds.
In January 2022, the Ministry of Commerce started the refund process according to the joint list of Bangladesh Bank, e-commerce institutions and gateway institutions. With information from Bangladesh Bank, Ministry of Commerce prepared a list of accused 32 e-commerce companies, he added.
Bangladesh Mobile Consumer Association President Mohiuddin Ahmed presided over the meeting and Director General of National Consumer Rights Protection Directorate AHM Safikuzzaman was present as the chief guest.
Among others, Bangladesh Competition Commission Director Gazi Golam Tausif, Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) Vice President SM Najer Hossain, E-CAB Vice President Mohammad Sahab Uddin, ISPAB Joint Secretary Anwar Hossain Anu, e-commerce company Evaly CEO Mohammad Russell and E-Courier Limited CEO Biplab Kumar Ghosh spoke in the function.
Speakers said, E-commerce market in Bangladesh is about 3 billion USD. According to the commercial research institute Recharge and Market.com, by 2026 the amount will be around 1 lakh 50 thousand crore in Bangladesh. E-commerce grabs only 1.5 percent of the country's total retail sales. Within the Asian continent, this rate is about 7 percent in India, 14 percent in Indonesia, 30 percent in China.
A large section of customers are more comfortable with cash transactions, they added.
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