Security guard service

What the business is

A private security business recruits guards, uniforms and trains them, and places them on monthly contracts at buildings, factories, banks and ATM booths. Bangladesh now has 10 to 12 lakh such workers and the sector's annual market is put at about Tk 12,000 crore. Securex, the first company, started in 1988; the largest today, Elite Force, has more than 23,000 staff, G4S more than 13,000 and Aegis more than 8,500. The arithmetic is simple and brutal. The managing director of Elite Force told Prothom Alo that only Tk 9,000 to Tk 10,000 in service charge is received per guard, out of which salary, training and uniform must all come. Guards are paid Tk 8,000 to Tk 15,000. The government has set a sectoral minimum wage of Tk 9,800 in urban areas and Tk 9,100 in mofussil areas, but the industry association's president says 70 percent of clients do not pay even that minimum. The gap that is supposed to be the company's profit is therefore barely there. The rules are tightening too: under the Private Security Service Act 2006 a company must register with the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, and on 19 August the Home Ministry issued a public notice giving companies two months to do so.

Unit economics

What you need to start

• Uniforms, torches, batons, whistles, registers and a way to communicate. Larger firms have added archways, metal detectors, scanners, CCTV monitoring and escort services; Securex has built a central monitoring system.Equipment
• DIFE registration: under the Labour Rules, supplying workers to another establishment through outsourcing requires registration with the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments. In FY2025-26, 1,560 outsourcing companies were registered nationally.Licence
• Trade licence from the city corporation or municipality: form Tk 10, licence book Tk 50, standard tax Tk 30, stamp Tk 150-300, licence fee Tk 100-60,000, plus VAT and signboard fee. A 2020 BPSSPA survey found about 369 companies holding a valid trade licence.Licence
• Registration of a private security service company: required from the office of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner under the Private Security Service Act 2006. The Home Ministry issued a public notice on 19 August ordering registration within two months. The fee and validity were not found in any published source.Licence
• A vetting and supervision system: national ID, permanent address, police verification, and a supervisor doing night rounds. Hire without vetting and one man's crime sinks the company.Skill
• A source of manpower: job seekers arriving from rural areas, plus retired army and police personnel. People from class eight to master's degree level come into this work.Supplier
• An office from which hiring, payroll and duty rosters are run, and somewhere to train. Elite Force operates four training academies of its own.Workspace

How the work runs

1. 1Decide first who you will supply: buildings and flats, or banks and ATMs, or factories. Banks and embassies pay more, but their training and vetting conditions are far stricter.
2. 2Take the trade licence from the city corporation or municipality: form Tk 10, book Tk 50, standard tax Tk 30, stamp Tk 150-300 and a fee by trade type.
3. 3Register with the office of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner under the Private Security Service Act 2006. The Home Ministry's public notice of 19 August ordered companies to register within two months - the days of operating unregistered are over.
4. 4Register with the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) as an outsourcing company. In FY2025-26 there were 1,560 outsourcing companies registered there nationally.
5. 5Vet before you hire: national ID, permanent address and police verification. One guard's crime costs the whole company its contracts.
6. 6Set up training. The big firms run their own academies - Elite Force has four. A trained guard is the only guard you can charge more for.
7. 7Put everything in the contract: how many guards, how many hours, the overtime rate, when you bill and by when you must be paid. Do not quote below the minimum wage - 70 percent of clients will ask you to.
8. 8Pay guards straight into their bank or mobile account wherever you can. Bangladesh Bank does exactly this - Tk 18,000 to the guard with the service charge paid separately - and it cuts complaints and builds trust.
9. 9Track your attrition. Securex hires 3,000 a year and about 2,500 leave. Rickshaw pulling now earns more than Tk 20,000, so nobody stays on less than Tk 10,000.
10. 10Keep night supervision running - a supervisor must do the rounds. A sleeping guard or a theft costs you both the compensation and the contract.
11. 11Do not send one worker to two establishments on the same day. The Labour Rules prohibit it, it happens anyway, and when it is caught the liability is yours.

Sources

• সিটি কর্পোরেশন থেকে ট্রেড লাইসেন্স প্রাপ্তির ধাপ সমূহ

  Collected: 16 Sept 2026

  Supports: Starting capital · বাংলাদেশ

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