Bangladesh earned only Tk 41 lakh against the target of Tk 2 crore fixed for the last fiscal year, according to Bangladesh Bank statistics.

The poor performance has compelled the Ministry of Commerce to lower this year's export target at Tk 1 crore for the thrust sector.

Under the National Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Policy, the government eyes to fetch Tk 300 crore a year from software exports, data entry and IT-enabled services by 2006.

In a bid to promote software exports, the government set up Bangladesh ICT Business Centre (BIBC) in Silicon Valley, US as a venture of IBPC in May last year.

A total of 36 Bangladeshi companies, which have signed memoranda of understanding with the Ministry of Commerce to become BIBC members, can use the centre during their visits to the US.

The World Bank and the Ministry of Commerce are jointly contributing to the Tk 2.4 crore annual budget of the centre, which provides the member firms with conference room, telephone and internet facilities.

According to IBPC Coordinator Golam Hossain, only one firm, Inforev Ltd, out of the 36 companies has been able to strike business through BIBC in 15 months. "Two or three more firms are expected to sign deals in near future," Hossain, also deputy secretary at the commerce ministry, told The Daily Star.

Industry people have attributed the poor performance of the BIBC to inefficiencies of the companies in developing high quality and diversified IT solutions.

"Only 6 to 8 out of 36 BIBC member companies have the abilities to develop US-standard IT products," said TIM Nurul Kabir, vice-president of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (Basis), which is also the co-partner of the government in establishing the centre.

The location of the centre is also another reason for the bad performance, as most of the world class IT companies are located in Silicon Valley, said Kabir, also managing director of TechnoVista Limited.

The Basis leader said member companies have already urged the BIBC authorities to arrange at least four events annually in the US where they can meet and hold discussions with potential buyers.

"Maximum companies lack adequate financial supports to stay in the US for a few days to look for business individually," Kabir explained the reason behind their demand to hold the events.

The government is also planning to set up two more business promotion centres -- one in Virginia, US and another in Europe. "The feasibility studies for establishing the centres have already been done," said the Basis leader.

Mujtaba Sattar, managing director of Inforev Ltd, said inadequate marketing drive by BIBC frustrates the companies to find business. "There is only one marketing executive at the BIBC and it is not possible for him to find business for each company," he said.