Commerce ministry forms committee to decide Evaly’s fate

The Commerce Ministry has formed a nine-member inter-ministerial committee to determine the future of controversial e-commerce platform Evaly.

The committee, headed by Commerce Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh, will hold a meeting on 11 August to take decision on Evaly.

The committee comprises of representatives from the home ministry, information technology (ICT) department, Bangladesh Bank, National Board of Revenue (NBR), consumer rights protection department and competition commission.

Evaly, on 2 August, sought six months from the commerce ministry for explaining how it will meet its current liabilities to customers and merchants.

The committee will decide whether Evaly would be allowed more time they sought to provide the explanations.

Next action will be taken against Evaly as per the committee's decision.

In reply to a show-cause letter of the ministry, Evaly informed it about signing a Tk1,000 crore investment deal, of which, it will get Tk200 crore initially. But it did not mention the investor's name – Jamuna Group – in the letter submitted on 1 August. There is even no mention of when the investment would be made too.

Evaly, in its reply letter, also said it will make efforts to gradually complete its pending deliveries and will send a progress report to the commerce ministry twice a month. But, the ministry did not seek any such information.

According to the central bank's inspection report, as of 14 March, Evaly's liabilities to customers and merchants had risen to around Tk404 crore, while its current asset is only Tk65 crore, meaning that it would be possible to pay off only 16% of Evaly's debts by selling its assets.