Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)-Dividend income of up to Tk 15,000 will get tax exemption in the next fiscal, a new incentive for share investors, thousands of whom suffered huge losses due to downswings of the capital market.

Earlier, the limit of tax exempted dividend was 10,000.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith made the disclosure in his budget speech saying the country’s capital market suffered a major setback in FY 2010-2011 and the small investors became the worst victims of the situation by losing their investment.

The government appointed an inquiry commission and also took up a comprehensive reform programme in this regard.

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) was reorganised which ensured good governance in the capital market by reforming the legal and regulatory framework within 2 years, said the Finance Minister.

“It is at their initiative with support from DSE and CSE that demutualisation of ownership and management from trading rights have almost been completed in these two stock exchanges under the Exchanges Demutualisation Act-2013,” said Muhith.

As a result of the initiatives taken from time to time the price index and market capitalisation of DSE has been quite stable since the beginning of 2013,” the finance minister added.

BBN/BB/ANS-05June14-6:30pm (BST)