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AyRojgar
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What workedA CCTV trader in the Baitul Mukarram market, Dhaka, in a Swadesh Pratidin report

Cameras from 15,000 taka down to a thousand, and households as the new buyers

A four-camera setup with a DVR costs the buyer 20,000-22,000 taka and installation near Dhaka 300-500; some 6-7 lakh cameras sell a year, almost all imported.

By this Baitul Mukarram market shopkeeper's account, demand for CCTV cameras began rising after 2013, and the Baitul Mukarram and Stadium markets together now hold more than 50 camera shops. The market is almost entirely import-led: cameras from China, Taiwan and South Korea sell at 6-7 lakh units a year, priced from 1,500 taka to as much as 2.5 lakh. Part of a shop's income comes from fitting them - a trader in Gulistan says he sets up a camera for 300 to 500 taka within reach of Dhaka, with the cost rising outside the city. A four-camera setup with a DVR costs the buyer 20,000 to 22,000 taka, and work usually comes in sets of 4, 8 or 12 cameras. A decade ago nothing was available below 15,000 taka and now a camera can be had for a thousand or twelve hundred, and as prices fell cameras moved from offices into homes: one landlord in Manikdi has fitted four at his shop and house and wants another on the roof.

Lessons

  1. 1.The extra income here is not in selling the box but in fitting and servicing it: a skilled technician is the real asset
  2. 2.Falling prices cut the margin per unit but open a new class of buyer, and the volume makes up for it

Published with the person's permission, without revealing who they are.

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