TCB's Family Card List Shrinks to 80 Lakh as It Chases a Tk8,000 Crore Budget

The Trading Corporation of Bangladesh set out, under the previous government, to put a subsidised goods card in the hands of one crore low-income families. Years of verification drives, duplicate NID cancellations and administrative resets later, the state agency has settled at a much smaller number: nearly 80 lakh genuinely verified beneficiaries, with about 73.7 lakh Smart Family Cards actually activated. At a "Trade with TCB" event in Dhaka this week, officials framed the shrinking number not as a failure but as the price of finally getting the list right, while laying out an ambitious FY27 plan to spend big and, eventually, stop needing subsidies altogether.

• TCB has verified and enrolled nearly 80 lakh genuine beneficiaries, down from an original 1 crore target, after scrutiny prompted by irregularity allegations cut the list by roughly 40 lakh.
• About 73.7 lakh Smart Family Cards are currently activated, with the remainder expected before Eid-ul-Fitr.
• TCB's FY27 procurement plan targets Tk 8,000 crore in purchases, aiming for lower buying prices and an 83 percent jump in sales revenue.
• Commercial loan interest costs are projected to fall from Tk 533 crore in FY24 to roughly Tk 106 crore in FY27, saving about Tk 80 crore a year in operating costs.

The card programme's bumpy history explains why the current number looks smaller than the original ambition. Earlier verification against the National ID database found cases of the same person holding a card in Dhaka and another in their home district, and of multiple family members claiming benefits under a single household entry, problems that had crept in largely because handwritten cards offered no real oversight once goods left TCB's trucks. Smart Family Cards, built around one card per verified family, were the fix, and the agency now describes the lower headcount as the fallout of actually enforcing that rule rather than a sign the programme is shrinking in ambition.

A bigger budget for a smaller, more reliable list

TCB chairman Brigadier General Mohammad Foyshol Azad told the Dhaka event that the agency's long-term goal is to stop needing subsidies altogether. "The goal is to make the agency fully self-reliant and free of subsidies," he said, describing a shift already visible in the numbers. The FY27 procurement plan calls for roughly Tk 8,000 crore in purchases, covering staples like edible oil, lentils, sugar, dates and chickpeas, split close to evenly between domestic and international sourcing at the outset, with room to lean more heavily on imports if they prove cheaper or more reliable.

Alongside the subsidised staples, TCB has started piloting non-subsidised items, soap, detergent, salt, tea, flour and spices, sold at prices below the open market but without a government subsidy attached, essentially using margin from these products to offset the cost of running the subsidised side of the operation. The agency projects commercial loan interest falling from Tk 533 crore in FY24 to about Tk 106 crore in FY27, and roughly Tk 80 crore a year in operating cost savings, numbers officials are using to argue the leaner, better-verified card list is actually a stronger financial footing than the original, larger but harder-to-manage one.

What is actually new here

Research presented at the event by Badrun Nessa Ahmed, a senior research fellow at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, pushed TCB toward a few concrete upgrades: integrating other social safety net benefits into the same smart card rather than running parallel systems, building AI-based round-the-clock price monitoring so subsidised rates track market shifts more closely, and expanding warehouse capacity. TCB currently runs 40 godowns, 9 of them owned and 31 rented, with about 48,370 metric tons of combined capacity, and plans to add roughly 10,000 metric tons to cut its reliance on rented storage.

On the consumer side, the agency's "Upokari" app already lets cardholders find the nearest TCB sales point and get notified when products are available there, and users can collect goods by scanning an encrypted QR code and paying either online or in cash. Point-of-sale machines that print transaction receipts are expected soon, part of a broader push toward a platform TCB says could eventually accommodate around 21 different government support programmes under one digital roof.

"The goal is to make the agency fully self-reliant and free of subsidies," said Brigadier General Mohammad Foyshol Azad, TCB chairman.

What it means for you

If you hold a TCB card, or are trying to get one, the practical reality is that verification against your National ID is now strict enough that duplicate or multi-member claims within one household get caught and cancelled, so it is worth confirming your own Smart Family Card status through the Upokari app rather than assuming an older handwritten card still works. If your card has not yet converted to the smart format, TCB says the remaining activations are expected before the next Eid-ul-Fitr, which gives a rough timeline for when to expect full access to the subsidised goods line rather than intermittent availability. For households managing a tight monthly budget alongside TCB purchases, tracking where the rest of your spending goes with a basic budgeting routine, and checking whether a recurring deposit scheme fits your savings goals using the site's FDR and DPS calculator, can help stretch the savings from subsidised staples a little further.

Measure	Figure
Original family card target	1 crore (100 lakh) families
Verified genuine beneficiaries	Nearly 80 lakh
Smart Family Cards activated	About 73.7 lakh
FY27 procurement target	Tk 8,000 crore
Projected FY27 commercial loan interest	~Tk 106 crore (down from Tk 533 crore in FY24)