Business

Real estate companies are opting for more housing projects outside Dhaka, as the soaring land price and its scarcity in the capital have pushed apartments beyond the purchasing capacity of many potential buyers. Industry people said some realtors have recently embarked on projects in different areas surrounding Dhaka, including Narayanganj, Comilla, Gazipur and Mymensingh, to

Businesses are increasingly using the device The newly introduced vehicle tracking system has become popular among corporate houses as it promises to retrieve stolen or lost cars and provides a means to cost-effective logistics management. Along with donors and NGOs, corporate houses, like telecom operators, banks, insurers and garment makers have adopted the

Marico Bangladesh Limited yesterday held a lottery for the allotment of shares in the initial public offering (IPO), the company said in a statement. Marico has allotted 29,97,750 ordinary shares to general public, NRBs and mutual funds and 152,250 shares to its employees. Refund warrants of unsuccessful applicants and allotment letters will be distributed from ... Read more

The broadband wireless internet service WiMax is likely to be launched in the city from the second week of October. Banglalion Communica-tion Ltd, one of the two companies that obtained WiMax licences, will provide the service under its ‘friendly test use’ programme to 15 areas of the city, GM Faruk Khan, head of promotion and ... Read more

Mobile phone operator banglalink earned revenues of Tk 1,183 crore at the end of first half 2009, which is an increase of 29 per cent compared to the same time last year. Its subscriber base increased steadily and reached 11.04 million at the end of June, which is a 17 per cent increase compared to ... Read more

The sound of chainmail clinks in your ears, drowning out the merrymaking behind you. A gauntlet covered hand digs hard into your arm, and you stifle a whimper. You stammer and plead, your pencil thin legs pumping wildly, your eyes darting back and forth for a kindly soul to come to your aid. Despite your ... Read more

The government will reallocate the frequency of local carriers’ flights from Dhaka to London to allow private airlines a wider access to global aviation. The move comes at a time when the capacity of local private carriers to utilise opportunities is being questioned. As part of the move, GMG Airlines and United Airways will be ... Read more

Apartment sales have soared around 15 percent in the first month of the new financial year, as the government announced that buyer’s source of income would not be questioned under black money whitening scope. Housing sector people say the scenario was reverse during January-March of 2009. The realtors blamed the ongoing global recession fallout for ... Read more

The telecoms watchdog is set to make ‘competition regulations’ by September this year to restrict monopolisation, aiming to ensure a level-playing field in the rapidly growing Bangladesh telecoms market. The telecoms regulator has followed the recommendations made by International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations agency for information and communication technology, which recently reported on ... Read more

The telecom watchdog has decided to keep tabs on internet service providers to see whether they are reducing prices in line with a significant cut in bandwidth charges. The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has also moved to make a guideline, aiming to discipline the internet market at retail level. “We cut wholesale bandwidth prices ... Read more

Hotel occupancy rate indicates good business Business executives from abroad have begun flocking to Dhaka’s five-star hotels in recent days — a trend that indicates negotiations and deals on advance export orders from the West for spring and summer of 2010. Occupancy rates in four major hotels in the capital have increased significantly now compared ... Read more

Augere Wireless Broadband Bangladesh Ltd launches its operation today. Augere chairman and chief executive officer Sanjiv Ahuja arrived in Dhaka on Sunday to host the inauguration, said a press release of the organisation. Augere is the parent company of Augere Wireless Broadband Bangladesh Ltd which successfully won a WiMAX licence in BTRC’s auction held in ... Read more

FARR Ceramics now eyes capacity building A local ceramics maker, in a span of less than two and a half years, has touched a credit mark of fetching around Tk 31crore from porcelain tableware exports in the immediate past fiscal year (2008-09), riding out the ongoing global recession. FARR Ceramics Ltd, which has now a ... Read more

Study sees manufacturing, real estate, construction most vulnerable to recession fallouts A study report cautions that a slowdown or negative growth of the country’s labour-intensive industries such as manufacturing, real estate and construction is likely to have adverse consequences on employment and labour market particularly in terms of generation of employment in these sectors. Most ... Read more

Ready-to-wear garment exporters Monday said, Bangladesh exports of RMG items to Germany will increase significantly at a time when the world became upset due to the financial recession, thanks to the government’s measures to face the economic meltdown. Speaking at a workshop on ‘Ways to Boost up RMG Export to Germany Under Present Recession’, they ... Read more

Southeast Asian counties need to come up with better policies for education, access to Information and Communication Technology (ICT), climate change, gender issues, human development, food security and overall development of rural people’s livelihood, speakers told a regional seminar yesterday. Centre for Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) hosted the seminar titled ... Read more

Bangladesh Krishi Bank, the largest state-owned bank engaged primarily in financing the agricultural sector of the country, has made a net profit of Tk 12.19 crore in the fiscal year 2008-2009 after incurring loss for about two decades. Last year, the bank suffered a net loss of Tk 196 crore. The unprecedented success of BKB ... Read more

Bangladesh’s trade deficit with India from 2001-02 to 2007-08 fiscal years was US Dollar 12278.26 million. Commerce Minister Muhammad Faruq Khan said this in the House today in reply to a question raised by treasury bench member Mohammad Israfil Alam. He said the country’s trade deficit with India was 968.71 million in 2001-02, 1274.18 million ... Read more

Expatriate Welfare and Foreign Employment Minister Engineer Khandkar Mosharraf Hossain yesterday told the Jatiya Sangsad [JS] that during 2008-2009 fiscal year a total of 6,45,779 Bangladeshis went abroad with foreign employments. Replying to a question from Hafiz Uddin Ahmed [Thakurgaon-3], the minister said that during this period 70,738 Bangladeshi workers

Beximco Group cos top list of bank loan defaulters, JS told Companies of the Beximco Group top the list of 2,196 bank loan defaulters, according to the latest report of the credit information bureau of Bangladesh Bank. Answering lawmakers’ questions in the parliament on Sunday, finance minister AMA Muhith disclosed that a total of 2,196 ... Read more