Invest Bangladesh replaces BIDA, BEZA and the PPP Authority: what changes for foreign investors

For a decade, a foreign investor entering Bangladesh dealt with the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) for registration and work permits, with the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) for a plot in an economic zone, and with the PPP Authority for a public-private partnership. Those three bodies are now one.

What has happened

Parliament passed the Invest Bangladesh Bill in July 2026, and the Invest Bangladesh Act 2026 was brought into force by gazette notification on 20 August 2026. It creates the Invest Bangladesh Authority, placed under the Prime Minister's Office, as the country's single investment promotion and facilitation agency.

• The Act merges BIDA, BEZA and the PPP Authority. Their assets, liabilities, contracts and staff pass to the new authority.
• It repeals the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority Act 2016, the Bangladesh Economic Zones Act 2010, the Public-Private Partnership Act 2015 and the One Stop Service Act 2018.
• The Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) and the Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority remain separate bodies. An investor inside an export processing zone or a hi-tech park still deals with that authority.
• The separate one-stop service systems the agencies ran are to be merged into one digital platform over time.

What has not changed

The services themselves. Registration of a foreign investment, permission for a branch or liaison office, work permits for expatriate staff, and approvals for royalties and foreign loans are the same procedures, now carried out in the name of Invest Bangladesh. In the first months the existing service pages and portal have continued under the new name while new rules are prepared.

What to check

1. 01Existing registrations, permissions and work permits. Confirm how the Act's saving provisions treat approvals issued by BIDA or BEZA before 20 August 2026, particularly any that are due for renewal.
2. 02Contracts that name an agency. Land leases and developer agreements with BEZA, PPP contracts and direct agreements with the PPP Authority, and conditions precedent that refer to a BIDA approval should be read against the transfer provisions.
3. 03Finance documents. Lenders' conditions precedent, legal opinions and security documents drafted before August 2026 commonly recite the repealed Acts.
4. 04Internal checklists and templates. Market-entry guides, board papers and compliance manuals that say BIDA will need the new name, and in time the new rules.
5. 05Pending applications. Where an application was filed with a predecessor agency, confirm which office within the new authority now holds the file.

What to watch

The rules made under the new Act, the timetable for the unified digital platform, and how quickly the staff and systems of the three bodies are actually combined. A single authority removes a layer of co-ordination between agencies; whether it shortens approvals in practice will be seen in the files, and we will update this note as it is.