Bangladesh’s IT Exports Post Moderate Gains as AI Raises Questions About Future Growth
Computer services earnings reached $684.15 million in FY2025-26, although industry leaders warn that automation is putting pressure on routine outsourcing jobs.
Bangladesh's information technology sector recorded a moderate rise in export earnings during the 2025-26 fiscal year, yet industry executives caution that artificial intelligence could limit how long such growth can continue.
According to Export Promotion Bureau data, computer services exports increased 8.68 percent year-on-year to $684.15 million, from $629.51 million the previous year. Software exports rose 8.82 percent to $48.38 million, though the total still missed the $55 million target. IT-enabled services—covering data processing, business process outsourcing, and hosting—accounted for nearly 88 percent of computer services earnings and grew 11.28 percent to $604.97 million. Consultancy and maintenance-related exports, by contrast, declined.
Company leaders describe the results as positive but difficult to sustain. Rashad Kabir of Dream71 Bangladesh said the increase is encouraging, yet AI is reducing the time and cost of many tasks clients previously outsourced, making similar growth harder in the current year. Raisul Kabir of Brain Station 23 noted that foreign clients are already hiring fewer external engineers for the same projects, as AI tools handle more routine work.
The impact is clearer in lower-value areas. Apel Mahmud Khan of BZM Graphics said AI is speeding up delivery for clients while intensifying price competition. Kowser Ahmed Nirob of The KOW Company reported that his firm has cut its workforce from more than 600 to under 400 as basic production tasks shift to automated systems; it now hires only people comfortable with AI-assisted workflows and is diversifying into other services.
Syed Almas Kabir, president of the Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services, said the roughly nine percent growth is welcome but insufficient to reach the industry's $5 billion export ambition. He highlighted the sharp drop in two-dimensional graphics work and stressed the need for firms and freelancers to move into higher-value tasks, adopt AI and data tools, and compete on quality rather than cost alone.The figures show continued expansion in Bangladesh's IT exports, driven mainly by services. Sustaining or accelerating that expansion, however, will depend on how quickly the sector adapts to a market where routine outsourcing work is increasingly automated.