Business

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

Former caretaker government adviser Akbar Ali Khan has suggested the government reset diesel price in line with the global market and increase allocation for infrastructure by reducing spending on unproductive sector in the upcoming budget. The government should consider it with priority to reset the price of diesel in the budget, he told a roundtable ... Read more

Bottled water supply has become a fast growing business as a growing number of people over the years have turned to the bottled drinking water against the backdrop of diminishing confidence on water supplied by the authorities. But substandard suppliers are dominating the market in absence of proper monitoring and legal action by the authorities ... Read more

Following the success of the first one, the second Laptop Fair is scheduled to kick off in the port city in the last week of May. The three-day event will be held at the Chittagong Engineers Institution from May 22 and is being organised by Maker Communications. The company have already organised laptop fairs in ... Read more

They were excited for obvious reasons, but at the same time their innovative business ideas amazed many. The Surma hall of Sonargaon Hotel was literarily too small to provide the encaustic young entrepreneurs with enough space, and with the announcement of the Young Entrepreneur Award 2008-09, the hall was about to be exploded with thundering ... Read more

Almost half of the 74 state-owned enterprises divested in the past were closed down that raised question about the quality of ‘so called privatisation’. A total of 74 state-owned enterprises belong to textiles, jute, manufacturing, chemicals, food, leather and banking sector were sold out since the establishment of the Privatisation Board in 1993 and thereafter ... Read more

When the government is planning a review of stimulus, announced last week, the Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry has readied a Comprehensive Economic Stimulus Package. The CESP, prepared after discussions with different export sub-sectors, has suggested a fund, titled Financial Crisis Mitigation Fund from the government and interim subsidies to pay interest ... Read more

The Dhaka market rose for a second week amid volatile trading with the key indices gaining in the first two days and declining in the rest three sessions. The benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSE General Index, increased by 45.92 points, or 1.8 percent, to 2,596.66 on a week-on-week basis. The DSE All ... Read more

Commerce Secretary Feroz Ahmed has urged the United States Trade Representative (USTR) to terminate the Generalised System of Preference (GSP) review proceedings and continue to accord GSP facilities to Bangladesh to help the country develop and fight poverty. His appeal came during a hearing on GSP Facilities for Bangladesh at the USTR office in Washington ... Read more

World finance officials meeting in Washington Friday said they expected the global economic crisis to begin to unwind by year-end, citing encouraging early signs of recovery. The Group of Seven major economies said the worst global slump since the 1930s Great Depression appeared to be approaching a bottom but also warned the outlook remained highly ... Read more

The country’s biggest-ever flour mill is set to start production at the end of this month. Shampa Flour Mills, a Tk 250-crore project of the City Group, will produce premium grade and packed flour and semolina (suji). A visit to the factory at Rupshi under Rupganj upazila in Narayanganj last week

The initiative to bring regulatory reforms for improving business climate is yet to draw attention of the new government, the chairman of Regulatory Reforms Commission said, regretting lack of demand for business reforms from the stakeholders. Akbar Ali Khan, addressing the presentation ceremony of a survey report on business reforms on Friday, added that delay ... Read more

Say economists Economists and experts said the central bank initiative to cap the maximum lending rate at 13 per cent is still high as they believe the local commercial banks have the scope to bring it down further. Bangladesh Bank on Tuesday directed the banks to bring their lending rates down except for credit cards ... Read more

Sales of generators are rising on frequent outages and an electricity shortage in the country with local businesses increasingly getting involved in assembling and making parts of the power devices amid approaching summer. In the last three months, around 11,000 units of generator were sold mainly in Dhaka and Chittagong, marking a rise of 25 ... Read more

The world’s cheapest car went on sale on Thursday, with dealers and the company behind it confident of strong demand despite a slump in global car sales amid the world economic downturn. Bookings opened for orders of Tata Motors’ 100,000 rupee (2,000 dollars) Nano at dealerships around the country, with a spokesman describing sales as ... Read more

Readymade garment exporters in a parley with international buyers in Dhaka yesterday sought their cooperation in raising the trade volume in the face of global recession. They also bargained with the buyers for more prices of apparel items and export orders so that the country can gain more competitiveness. The buyers nowadays offer the lowest ... Read more

Four state-owned commercial banks have decided not to reduce their deposit rates rather exert coordinated efforts to help their clients face the ongoing global recession. The decision came from a meeting of the managing directors of the Sonali, Janata, Agrani and Rupali banks at the Sonali Bank auditorium Thursday morning, banking sources said. In contrast ... Read more