Bangladesh Company Search Guide 2026: How to Verify a Bangladeshi Business

TL;DR. Bangladesh’s official business registry is the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSC), operated by the Ministry of Commerce at https://app.roc.gov.bd/. That host did not present a valid security certificate when last checked, and no replacement search address was found. Name-search and certified-extract prices are unknown rather than free. Confirm at source.

What is the official Bangladesh business registry?

The Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSC) is Bangladesh’s central registry for companies, societies, and partnerships. It operates under the Companies Act 1994 (as amended) and is supervised by the Ministry of Commerce. The primary public interface named in this guide is https://app.roc.gov.bd/. That address did not present a valid security certificate when last checked, so no online search path is documented here. This page still points at the official portal address.

RJSC was digitised in phases from 2012 onward, with online registration and search expanding through successive e-governance initiatives. Those notes could not be confirmed against a working portal page.

The RJSC registers private limited companies, public limited companies, foreign company branches, one-person companies (OPCs introduced under 2020 amendments), partnerships, and societies. It does not cover sole proprietorships, which register at the local trade licensing authority (City Corporation or Upazila level). For sole traders, the Business Identification Number (BIN) issued by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) for VAT purposes is often the practical identifier.

The primary company identifier in Bangladesh is the Registration Number assigned by RJSC at incorporation. This number appears on the Certificate of Incorporation and subsequent RJSC filings. Separately, the Electronic Taxpayer Identification Number (ETIN), issued by the NBR, is the tax registration identifier and is a separate system from RJSC. Both identifiers are used together for a complete counterparty profile: RJSC for legal existence, ETIN for tax status.

Bangladesh is a member of the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG). The APG homepage at https://www.apgml.org is titled Asia / Pacific Group on Money Laundering. Confirm Bangladesh’s membership status and mutual-evaluation detail at source. This page does not prescribe enhanced due diligence. The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) under Bangladesh Bank is the designated financial intelligence authority.

What can you search?

Nothing, through https://app.roc.gov.bd/, which did not present a valid security certificate. Company name, registration number, address, and entity-type screens are therefore not described here. Confirm at source.

Historic coverage of a basic result has included company name, registration number, registered address, date of incorporation, entity type, and registration status (active, dissolved, struck off). Paid extracts have historically included Certificate of Incorporation, Memorandum and Articles of Association, annual filing returns (Form XII and equivalents), lists of directors and shareholders (Form X), charge registrations, and amendment filings. Those field lists could not be confirmed against a working search screen.

How much does it cost?

A live tariff page was not read on https://app.roc.gov.bd/, because the host did not present a valid security certificate. Older BDT 200 to BDT 2,000 figures are not restated as current. Payment for extracts has historically been via bank transfer or mobile banking platforms including bKash; that path could not be confirmed here. Confirm at source.

Foreign buyers without Bangladeshi payment channels have historically used a local corporate service provider for extract retrieval.

Do you need a local account or ID?

Account and identity rules cannot be confirmed, because https://app.roc.gov.bd/ did not present a valid security certificate. Historic copy that a basic name or number search needed no registration, and that paid extracts used an RJSC account with email plus a Bangladeshi mobile one-time password, is not restated as a live path. No Bangladeshi national identity card (NID) has been reported as required for account creation; confirm at source.

Paid extracts have been reported as gated behind an account, which is why account is recorded as optional. A local ID is shown as not required because NID has not been reported as a search gate; confirm at source.

Is the website in English?

Partial. Historic copy is that navigation and core search were in English, with some administrative sections in Bengali (Bangla). The interface language could not be confirmed on this visit, because the portal did not present a valid security certificate. Confirm at source.

Bangladeshi companies are required to register with both an English name and a Bengali name. Downloaded documents have historically been issued in English for English-name companies.

What’s the turnaround time?

Unknown. Profile-search and paid-extract times could not be confirmed on https://app.roc.gov.bd/. Historic copy that portal extract orders were processed within 1 to 3 business days is not restated as a live figure. Confirm at source.

RJSC processing has been reported to extend during peak filing periods after Bangladesh’s financial year-end in June.

Is there an API?

No public API for the RJSC could be confirmed. The Ministry of Commerce has not announced an API programme for commercial third-party access on a page read for this guide. There is no approved bulk data licensing arrangement described here.

For structured Bangladeshi company data, the available options remain manual portal lookup when the host is reachable, a local data provider with RJSC access, or a commercial aggregator that covers South Asian registries.

What you legally cannot do

The RJSC Terms of Use and the Companies Act 1994 have been reported to prohibit automated bulk scraping of the RJSC portal. Those terms could not be re-read here. The Personal Data Protection Act of Bangladesh was passed by Parliament but had not been brought into force as of May 2026; enactment timing was uncertain then. Once in force, it will impose obligations on the processing of personal data including director names and addresses sourced from registry records. Enactment status is published by the Bangladesh Law Commission and the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs.

Redistribution or resale of RJSC certified extracts as a commercial data product without RJSC authorisation is not permitted under the Companies Act. Access for a buyer’s own CDD, KYC, or AML file, with a documented purpose, is the intended use described in prior copy; confirm at source.

Practical tips for foreign compliance buyers

• Registration number is the anchor. RJSC registration numbers are unique per entity and appear on the Certificate of Incorporation. Name-based searches risk false positives where many entities share similar names.
• ETIN is separate from RJSC. The Electronic Taxpayer Identification Number is issued by the National Board of Revenue for VAT and tax registration. An entity active on RJSC may or may not be ETIN-registered. https://etaxnbr.gov.bd is an NBR e-Return surface (title e-Return), not an RJSC company search.
• One-Person Companies (OPC). Bangladesh introduced the OPC structure under the Companies (Amendment) Act 2020. OPCs have a single shareholder-director, so ownership is concentrated in one person.
• Foreign branches. Foreign companies operating in Bangladesh register their branch with RJSC. The branch registration number is distinct from the parent company’s home-jurisdiction registration.
• APG context. Bangladesh is an APG member. The APG homepage at https://www.apgml.org is titled Asia / Pacific Group on Money Laundering. Confirm mutual-evaluation detail at source. This page does not prescribe enhanced due diligence.
• Payment friction. If bKash or local bank transfer is not accessible, Dhaka-based corporate service providers and law firms have historically retrieved extracts.

For a broader framework on approaching counterparty verification globally, see our Global Business Due Diligence Guide. For a comparison across the South Asia region, the Pakistan Company Search Guide and Sri Lanka Company Search Guide cover adjacent registry environments.

Alternatives if you cannot access RJSC directly

• Aggregator search: OpenCorporates coverage of Bangladeshi companies is not confirmed here; confirm at source. It is not a substitute for an RJSC certified extract.
• Local corporate service providers: Dhaka-based law firms and corporate secretarial firms maintain RJSC accounts and retrieve certified extracts for foreign clients when the portal is reachable.

Local data suppliers

• Dun & Bradstreet Bangladesh (dnb.com). D&B issues D-U-N-S Numbers for Bangladeshi entities and provides company intelligence reports covering incorporation data, financial indicators, and payment behaviour.

Use RJSC for the authoritative legal filing record when the host is reachable. Use a credit bureau or commercial data provider when you need payment behaviour or risk scoring on top of the registry record.

FAQ

Can a foreign company access the Bangladesh RJSC registry directly?

Not at https://app.roc.gov.bd/, which did not present a valid security certificate when last checked. Historic copy that the public portal was reachable without a Bangladeshi identity document is not restated as a live path. Paid extract retrieval has historically been harder for foreign buyers because of a Bangladeshi-mobile one-time password; confirm at source.

What is the BIN number in Bangladesh?

The Business Identification Number (BIN) is a VAT registration identifier issued by the National Board of Revenue to VAT-registered businesses. It is separate from the RJSC registration number. A company can have an RJSC registration number (legal existence) without a BIN (if below the VAT threshold).

What entity types are registered with RJSC?

The RJSC registers private limited companies, public limited companies, one-person companies, foreign company branches operating in Bangladesh, partnerships, and societies registered under the Societies Registration Act 1860. Sole proprietorships are not registered with RJSC; they operate under local trade licences issued by City Corporations or Upazila authorities.

Does Bangladesh have a beneficial ownership (UBO) registry?

Bangladesh does not have a publicly accessible centralised UBO registry as of the last published copy. Under AML regulations aligned with APG and FATF Recommendation 24, companies are required to maintain beneficial ownership records internally and to disclose them to regulatory authorities on request. Those records are not systematically published as a public RJSC search. Confirm at source.

How current is the data in the RJSC?

Not confirmed. The portal did not present a valid security certificate. Annual return submissions required under the Companies Act are due within a statutory period after the AGM, but filing compliance in Bangladesh is variable and many companies file late.

Is Bangladesh on the FATF grey list?

This guide did not read Bangladesh’s entry on the published lists. Confirm at fatf-gafi.org. This page does not prescribe enhanced due diligence.

What is the difference between the RJSC and the tax system?

The RJSC is the company registration authority, holding legal filing records: incorporation documents, directors, shareholders, and annual returns. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) maintains the tax system, including the ETIN (income tax) and BIN (VAT). The two systems are linked by common company name but not by a shared identifier. A valid RJSC registration does not guarantee current tax compliance.

Last verified: 2026-09-14. Sources: app.roc.gov.bd, which did not present a valid security certificate; etaxnbr.gov.bd (e-Return); www.apgml.org (title Asia / Pacific Group on Money Laundering). For the full global due diligence framework, see our Global Business Due Diligence Guide.