Business

Beximco Group has bought a 50 per cent stake in GMG Airlines and is injecting enough cash into Bangladesh’s biggest private passenger carrier to buy two big planes, the company announced Wednesday. Beximco paid Tk 30 crore to buy the stake in the ailing airline and will also lend another Tk 40 crore to help ... Read more

BUSINESS-RELATED CASES DSE wants special court Law minister Shafique Ahmed on Wednesday suggested that the parties may avoid delayed disposal of their cases if they resolve business-related disputes through arbitration instead of moving to court. Shafique Ahmed made the suggestion when a delegation of Dhaka Stock Exchange led by its president Rakibur Rahman met the ... Read more

Mobile operators added only 0.28 million customers to their networks in May, recording a 26 percent lower growth rate than in April 2009. According to data from the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), the total number of mobile phone customers reached 46.41 million in May 2009. The industry added 0.38 million customers in April 2009.

Warid Telecom International has renewed its working capital facility arrangement worth Tk 148 crore for one year. Warid Telecom, in this regard, signed an agreement with nine commercial banks in a city hotel on Tuesday. Industrial and Infrastructure Development Finance Company has acted as the lead arranger and security agent in this agreement.

As speculation on possible increase of tax and duty on luxury goods import mounts up, prices of some items have showed an increasing trend. Market sources and shoppers told New Age about the price increase of reconditioned cars and high-end mobile phone sets while some traders have started to build up their stocks of cigarettes ... Read more

Say businessmen Fish and shrimp worth around Tk 40 crore have been washed away from more than 400 shrimp enclosures and ponds in seven upazilas of Cox’s Bazar district by cyclone Aila and the recent tidal surge, businessmen said yesterday. The affected upazilas are Teknaf, Ukhia, Moheshkhali, Kutubdia, Cox’s Bazar Sadar, Chakoria and

Cellphone maker Sony Ericsson unveiled on Thursday two handset models it said are more eco-friendly, adding that the company will push greener features across its product line in the next two years. The new models, C901 GreenHeart and Naite, will be sold in smaller packages and have user manuals that are electronic. The devices use

Bangladeshi travellers can now use their regular Citycell handset while roaming in Japan. KDDI Corporation, Citycell’s roaming partner operator in Japan, recently introduced a network to support regular CDMA roamers from around the globe, a news release said. Citycell chief executive officer Michael Seymour announced the service at a ceremony held at its head office ... Read more

Bangladesh has received software export orders of 75,000 US dollar and potential orders amounting to 12.25 lakh from a three-day software exposition titled ‘Software Development Exposition’ held in Tokyo, Japan. The country, for the first time, participated in the Software Development Exposition from May 13 to 15, said a EPB press release on

Growers now struggle to maintain supply of tea in line with its growing demand, which ultimately pushes the beverage price up. Tea is widely consumed nowadays, from urban to rural areas, with around 7 percent domestic growth a year, says a senior official of the Tea Traders Association of Bangladesh (TTAB). According to the trade ... Read more

Restructuring move stagnant, no meeting in seven months The Board of Investment, the government’s investment promotion agency, has virtually turned into an ‘abandoned’ organisation for lack of proper attention and serious manpower shortage when investment climate is plagued by the crisis of infrastructures. The board, headed by the prime minister as its chairman, has not ... Read more

Mobile operators Banglalink and AKTEL are in talks for a possible merger in an aggressive bid to grab a substantial market share of Bangladesh’s 46 million market, giving a hint that the number of operators will come down in the already saturated six-operator market. The merger issue was disclosed by Orascom Telecom Holdings Chairman Naguib ... Read more

A recovery in cell phone demand will not happen until well into 2010, researcher Gartner said on Wednesday, while Reuters data showed the industry could suffer its worst quarter ever in April-June. The handset market fell 9.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2009, Gartner said, adding it saw demand stabilising but it would ... Read more

Some of the major juice manufacturers are flouting the rule by not marking the juice packs with maximum retail price. The rule of Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution clearly states that every 250ml juice pack should have been marked with MRP. But, visiting some city outlets that sell packed juices it was found that some ... Read more

Beximco Pharma, a leading medicine manufacturer, now targets expansion of its export markets to Australia and North American countries. Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a forum of 10 Middle Eastern countries, and Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) in Australia have already accredited the company in 2008 for exports. The combined pharmaceutical market of GCC is valued at ... Read more

A seven-day housing fair of Sheltech, a leading real estate company of the country, begins in the Dhaka city today. The Sheltech is going to arrange the fair when the country’s businesses started feeling the pinch of global recession, Toufiq M Seraj, managing director of the real estate firm, said at a press conference on ... Read more

Warid Telecom, the fourth largest mobile phone operator, is on the lookout for a partner to raise fresh capital for investment in the next phase of operations in Bangladesh. Warid made its Bangladesh debut as the sixth mobile operator in May 2007 and has bagged 2.5 million subscribers until March 09. Partnership is crucial to ... Read more

When the country’s major export earning sectors are showing downward trend owing to the impact of the current global financial crisis, plastic sector shows a significant export potential. The sector sets on the 12th row of the country’s export earners’ listing with an earning of Tk 1,200 crore annually, is going to get a boost ... Read more

Industry leaders say growth may not sustain in recession Footwear exports have marked a 20 percent rise during July-March this fiscal year, Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) statistics show. The country fetched $144.69 million from exports of the item in nine months, a sharp rise from $131.52 million in the July-February period. However, the industry leaders ... Read more

The government has finally paid heed to struggling TeleTalk’s cry for development fund. A Tk 2,000 crore will soon be allocated for the state mobile phone operator to reach out its network to additional 55 lakh customers in the next couple of years. “The fund will be spent for adding 55 lakh customers to our ... Read more