Dhaka, May 6 -- Why go for imported expensive products when local buys of veritably same-quality substitutes can save one over 35-percent expenses is a moot question prompted now by domestic industrial expansion.

A prime example being cited is homegrown toiletry and beauty products

that are increasingly substituting expensive imports that drain on Bangladesh's limited foreign-exchange reserves.

Start with everyday-used shaving foam -- and Asifur Rahman finds no reason why he should go for the buy of an import. A mid-level banker working in Dhaka's bustling financial district of Motijheel, Rahman starts his day -- as do many urban professionals-with a shave.

For years, he had relied on imported Gillette shaving foam, manufactured in In...