They say the online payment service to boost income from abroad
Local freelance software developers, who work for foreign companies online and earn foreign currency, yesterday urged the government to take steps to introduce a convenient online money transfer service, such as PayPal, for smooth transfer of their payment. They made the demand at a seminar at “eAsia 2011” at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in Dhaka yesterday.
At present, Bangladesh is out of online payment service PayPal, which acts like a digital wallet using what people can remit money in a secured way through financial institutions.
As an intermediary, PayPal allows account-to-account money transfer. It is a US-based global e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through internet.
Foreign companies prefer PayPal in making payment as its service is more convenient and charges lower than many competing agencies.
There are about 10,000 freelance software developers in the country, earning roughly $15 million annually. Their income is equivalent to one-fourth of the country’s total software exports, said AKM Fahim Mashroor, senior vice president of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services.
Some local freelancers earn $3,000 to $4,000 a month. But they cannot bring more than $500 a month through legal channel, said an analyst.
The freelancers said, as foreign companies cannot remit the foreign currency in absence of PayPal they send the money in traditional ways, sometimes through illegal channels.
State Minister for ICT Yeafesh Osman said his ministry and Bangladesh Bank are trying hard to introduce PayPal service in the country.
The minister requested Matt Cooper, vice president of Marketplace Operations Odesk of the USA, who also attended the seminar, to plead with PayPal to open its service in Bangladesh.
“I started freelancing with $10 per hour as charge. Now I charge $100 per hour,” said Bernard Vukus, a successful freelancer from Croatia. He said there are thousands of projects waiting for the freelancers.
Al-Amin Chowdhury, a successful Bangladeshi freelancer, said: “If you are idle then your income will be that of a rickshaw-puller. But if you are hard-working then you will earn like a multinational company’s top executive.”
-With The Daily Star input
