Of the manufacturers, Samsung is on the fore, controlling about one-fourth the market. And the South Korean tech giant make about 97 per cent of their devices in the local plant that opened in 2018.

Home-grown brands Walton and Symphony and China’s Transsion Holdings, Vivo and Oppo meet their full demand from their plants in Bangladesh.

Transsion is now making about 90,000 smartphones per month of two separate brands, while its total monthly production is 4.5 lakh units, according to Rezwanul Haque, chief executive officer of Transsion.

“We are faring fine. As time passes, both quality and quantity will grow further,” said Haque, a former general secretary of the BMPIA.

Symphony, once the market leader, has not been importing any smart gadgets since June last year, said Jakaria Shahid, managing director of Edison Group, its parent company.

The company is assembling about 1.5 lakh smartphones every month in its plant in Ashulia on the outskirts of Dhaka.

In the plant they are also making 1.25 lakh units of basic phones a month and no imports would be required by the year-end.