National Board of Revenue has intensified its crackdown on the misuse of bonded warehouse facilities by exporters, launching a major enforcement drive that includes scrutiny of bank transactions of around 100 export-oriented companies.
According to officials, the initiative follows allegations that nearly $5 billion worth of fabrics, garments and accessories enter Bangladesh’s domestic market each year through the diversion of duty-free imports and smuggling. As part of the probe, the NBR is collecting five years of banking data from large exporters suspected of importing raw materials under bonded facilities and selling them locally instead of using them for export production.
Banking records will be cross-checked with import-export data in the customs ASYCUDA World system and other databases to identify discrepancies and establish evidence of misuse, officials said. Alongside financial scrutiny, NBR has significantly tightened operational controls by scrapping all manual utility permission (UP) processes related to bonded operations from January 1, making digital compliance fully mandatory. From now on, all bonded services—including raw material entitlements—must be processed through the Customs Bond Management System (CBMS).
Officials noted that CBMS is integrated with the databases of Bangladesh Bank and customs, enabling stronger monitoring, improved audits and more effective risk profiling.
NBR Chairman Abdur Rahman Khan said the authority has adopted a zero-tolerance stance on bond misuse. “Bond automation has now been made fully mandatory. We will carry out regular physical inspections of bonded warehouses, and if raw materials that should be present are missing, cases will be filed immediately,” he said.
According to NBR sources, about 6,000 direct and indirect exporters currently hold bond licenses that allow duty-free import of raw materials.
