Towels and Bedsheets: Bangladesh's Quiet Textile Adjacency

By the UISC BD Editorial Desk · Union Information Service Center, Bangladesh · Published 9 September 2026 · 5-minute read

Bangladesh's garment industry is famous. Its home textiles industry — towels, bedsheets, table linen, curtains — operates in the same buildings, with much the same workforce, and is barely discussed.

According to the Bangladesh Terry Towel & Linen Manufacturers & Exporters Association, 110 companies produce home textile and terry towel items in the country. Within their exports, towels account for about 40 percent and bedding around 50 percent.

A Note on the…

One-Sixth of Bangladesh's Exports Come From Inside Its Export Zones

By the UISC BD Editorial Desk · Union Information Service Center, Bangladesh · Published 9 September 2026 · 6-minute read

Bangladesh's export processing zones exported $8.41 billion in FY2025-26 — 17.51 percent of the country's total exports of roughly $48 billion.

More than one export dollar in six now originates inside a BEPZA zone.

Growth Against the Trend

The detail that matters most is comparative. BEPZA exports grew 2.2 percent in FY2025-26 — at a time when Bangladesh's overall exports declined slightly amid a global slowdown.

Zones outperforming…

A Record $35 Billion Came Home — While Fewer Workers Left

By the UISC BD Editorial Desk · Union Information Service Center, Bangladesh · Published 9 September 2026 · 6-minute read

Bangladesh received more than $35 billion in remittances in FY2025-26 — a record.

In the same period, the number of workers leaving for overseas jobs fell to a five-year low. Understanding why both are true at once explains a great deal about the country's economy.

The Two Numbers

According to BMET, more than 9.69 lakh people left Bangladesh for overseas work in the last fiscal year — down 5 percent year-on-year, and well below…

The Artisan Economy: Bangladesh's Oldest Industry Meets a Trillion-Dollar Market

By the UISC BD Editorial Desk · Union Information Service Center, Bangladesh · Published 9 September 2026 · 6-minute read

Bangladesh's handicraft sector is simultaneously its oldest industry and one of its least commercially organised.

The range is unusually wide: jamdani and other handloom textiles including Tangail, Rajshahi silk and Monipuri weaving, alongside shataranji carpets, metalwork, conch shell craft, pottery, woodwork, shell art, doll art, brass work and bamboo-cane products.

Millions of…

The Delivery Network That Made Bangladeshi E-Commerce Possible

By the UISC BD Editorial Desk · Union Information Service Center, Bangladesh · Published 9 September 2026 · 6-minute read

Sixty million Bangladeshis now shop online. That statistic is meaningless without an answer to a physical question: who carries the parcel to the door?

For a large share of those orders, the answer is Pathao.

The Scale

Founded in 2015, Pathao has by 2026 recorded:

• Over 15 million app downloads.
• More than 130 million deliveries completed.
• Operations across 64 districts of…

From Two to Fifteen: Bangladeshi Universities Enter the World Rankings

By the UISC BD Editorial Desk · Union Information Service Center, Bangladesh · Published 9 September 2026 · 6-minute read

In 2022, two Bangladeshi universities appeared in global university rankings. In 2023, four. In 2025, fifteen.

Roughly half of those ranked institutions are private universities — a category that barely existed in Bangladesh a generation ago.

The System's Shape

Bangladesh's higher education sector now comprises:

• 55 public universities…

The Startups Raising Bangladeshi Farm Incomes by 30 Percent

By the UISC BD Editorial Desk · Union Information Service Center, Bangladesh · Published 9 September 2026 · 6-minute read

Bangladesh has 75 agritech startups, of which seven have raised funding. Over the past decade, an average of about five new companies have launched each year.

The number that matters most is not the count of companies but this: research indicates Bangladeshi agritech startups have increased farmer incomes by around 30 percent on average.

Why a 30 Percent Income Gain Is Possible

That figure sounds implausible until you understand…

Bangladesh's HealthTech Sector: 453 Startups and a Behavioural Shift

By the UISC BD Editorial Desk · Union Information Service Center, Bangladesh · Published 9 September 2026 · 6-minute read

Bangladesh now has 453 healthtech startups. Fifteen have raised funding, one at Series A or beyond, and more than $32 million has been invested in the sector since 2015.

The government has committed a $200 million Digital Health Fund covering 2024 to 2026 — a figure that dwarfs private investment to date and signals where policy intends the sector to go.

The Number That Explains the Opportunity

One statistic captures why this sector is moving:…

Bangladesh Is Building Its Own Cloud

By the UISC BD Editorial Desk · Union Information Service Center, Bangladesh · Published 9 September 2026 · 6-minute read

Every digital service this publication has covered — mobile financial services, streaming platforms, government digital services, delivery apps — runs on servers somewhere. For most of Bangladesh's digital history, "somewhere" meant abroad.

That is changing quickly, and with unusual amounts…

The Quiet Swap: Bangladesh Is Putting Its Irrigation on Solar Power

By the UISC BD Editorial Desk · Union Information Service Center, Bangladesh · Published 9 September 2026 · 6-minute read

Bangladesh's agricultural productivity — third in the world for vegetables and rice — depends on irrigation that extends the growing season beyond the monsoon. For decades, most of that irrigation has run on diesel.

Diesel is imported, paid for in foreign currency, subject to global price swings, and burned in hundreds of thousands of small pumps across the country. Replacing it is one of the more sensible energy interventions available.

What…