Business

TNT NV was again awarded ‘supersector leader’ for industrial goods and services (including industrial transportation) of the 2010 Dow Jones sustainability indexes recently. This was the conclusion of a report published in Zurich by SAM, a sustainability investment specialist, which assessed the sustainability performance of over 1,300 listed companies, said a

A three-day Prantik-Cox’s Bazar real estate fair organised by Prantik Communication began at the Hotel Sea Palace in Cox’s Bazar on Wednesday. Md Gias Uddin Ahmed, deputy commissioner of Cox’s Bazar, inaugurated the fair as chief guest. Mohammad Mahadi Hasan, chief executive of Prantik Cmmunication, and MA Elahi Simol, secretary of

Beef sales in Dhaka have plummeted 75 percent as customers avoid the item due to the outbreak of anthrax, butchers and traders said. They said demand for beef, the most popular food among the Muslims countrywide, has been dwindling since the disease broke out last

Abdul Hai, a small cloth-shop owner in Rajshahi, has never submitted any income tax return since the mid-80s. He thought he was no longer running a profitable trade. Hai, the president of Haragram Bazar Babosayee Samity, who had attended only primary school, believes only those who earn sizeable profits should open

The regional final round of the Monitor-Malaysian Palm Oil Chef of the Year 2010 competition kicks off in Khulna on September 24. The event to be organised at Khulna Club will have top 10 competitors from Khulna and Barisal divisions. The grand finale will be held at Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka on

Anthrax left an adverse impact on hide business in Khulna city, as cow and goat slaughtering fell drastically due to the phobia. On the other hand, prices of poultry birds have soared as most consumers stayed away from buying red meat before the Eid-ul-Fitr.

Plans to procure more, says BB governor Bangladesh is going to boost its official reserve of gold, buying 10 tonnes of bullion worth about $400 million from the Internatio-nal Monetary Fund. A decision in this regard was taken as part of Bangladesh Bank’s plans to diversify its reserve, said the BB governor, Atiur Rahman.

A three-day long fair, Destination Thailand Fair in Bangladesh 2010, organised by the Thai embassy, Dhaka and its partners from September 16 to 18, will be held on the embassy premises in Baridhara. The fair will be open to the general public and no entry fee will be required, says a press release. Civil Aviation ... Read more

Rahimafrooz Renewable Energy Solar irrigation to help agriculture The government’s policy support and the non government organizations’ (NGO) speedy operation are accelerating the rate of Solar Home System (SHS) installation outside national grid zones across the country. A total of 0.5 million installed SHS units are generating 25 megawatts of electricity, which is beyond the ... Read more

Mobile phone operator Grameenphone has signed agreements with three companies to purchase solar power to operate its off-grid base station sites. Grameenphone is the first telecommunication company in Bangladesh to use solar power in a large scale, GP said

Pre-Eid-ul-Fitr sales of clothes, footwear, electronic gadgets, jewellery and cosmetics in the capital all appear to be above last year’s tally, as the year’s biggest spending season is close to its end. Businesspeople at malls, shopping centres and unauthorised footpath shops are reporting better sales than last year in both men’s and women’s

The National Board of Revenue on Sunday introduced online income tax returns in its Zone-8 on an experimental basis to maximise utilisation of the digital devices. Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith inaugurated the system at his secretariat office by submitting his own income tax returns for

The growing purchasing power of Bangladeshi consumers gave a tremendous boost to its retail trade in recent years, said economists, retailers as well as top lifestyle brand business houses. An obvious upshot is a huge festival economy, they said. Eid time sales, they said, were an eloquent testimony to the rising strength of the national

Babul Mia, 34, a resident of Nageswari in Kurigram, was unemployed two years ago. But an innovative idea of Babul to manufacture a mobile rice mill has now changed his life. He collected some money by selling a major part of his 20 decimals of land and bought a shallow pump with Tk 26,500 as ... Read more

Kaya Skin Clinic, a subsidiary of Marico Bangladesh Ltd, yesterday opened its second outlet at Dhanmondi, Dhaka. The new clinic will provide customised services to consumers, based on their skin needs. “We inaugurated the second branch as there is a huge demand for our services in Bangladesh,” said Soumendra Das, Marico marketing

BRAC Bank has opened a new branch on Elephant Road in Dhaka recently. Bank’s director Tamara Hasan Abed inaugurated the Elephant Road branch on Tuesday in presence of managing director and chief executive officer Syed Mahbubur Rahman, said a

The Securities and Exchange Commission has decided that convertible securities like preference shares, bonds and debentures would have to be issued as per the ‘repeat public offering’ guidelines. The commission finalised the guidelines for the issuance of convertible securities on Tuesday as there was no distribution mechanism, price fixing method and

Fareast Islami Life Insurance Company Ltd has appointed Abul Khaleque as chief financial officer, the insurer said in a statement. Khaleque started his career with American Life Insurance Company Ltd, served the insurer for seven years and finished as its chief

National Bank Ltd has appointed SM Jaffar as its deputy managing director, the bank said in a statement yesterday. Prior to the appointment, he was the senior executive vice-president of Southeast Bank Ltd. Jaffar started his banking career with AB Bank as trainee officer in 1985. He served

Aftab Group launched its new venture Aftab Foods Limited on Tuesday. Aftab Foods Limited executive general Sheikh Aman Ullah announced the launching of the new company with a slogan ‘Delicious-Healthy’ in a programme at a city