Business

The telecom regulator on Thursday halved the international call termination charges and slashed the operators’ revenue sharing with the government in a bid to aid the politically-licensed gateway operators. The new rate of 1.5 US cents for international call termination per minute might be applicable with effect from July 1 instead of the date of approval ... Read more

Environment Surcharge NBR, DoE differ over industry specification The National Board of Revenue has failed to issue gazette notification containing the names of polluting industries imposing 1 per cent environment surcharge due to its difference of opinion over the definition of industry with the Department of Environment, officials said. They said that the NBR would ... Read more

But revenue collection drops Revenue collection sharply dropped on the third day of the weeklong income tax fair across the country on Thursday though record number of taxpayers and potential taxpayers visited the fair amid nationwide hartal called by Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami. On the day, a total of 98,630 people received different

Bangladesh Bank on Thursday came down heavily on the four state-owned commercial banks for violating the bank company act on the limit they can lend to a single borrower. The four SCBs – Sonali, Janata, Agrani and Rupali – also reportedly disbursed fresh loans to defaulters without assessing their credit records. According to BB data,

BSEC decides to take action The capital market regulator on Thursday decided to take action against Shahjibazar Power Company for hiding price sensitive information. The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission made the decision in a regular commission meeting presided over by its chairman M Khairul Hossain, a BSEC news release said. The commission, however, did not find ... Read more

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday approved a proposal of the IFAD Autos Limited to raise Tk 63.75 crore from the capital market through initial public offering. The company will float 2.12 crore shares with an offered price of Tk 30 including Tk 20 premium on each share. The capital market regulator approved the ... Read more

Dhaka stocks advanced for the third trading session on Thursday, the last trading session of the week, as relatively peaceful situation on the first day of a two-day general strike called by Jamaat-e-Islami kept investors positive. The turnover at Dhaka Stock Exchange increased to a 16-month high at Tk 1,288.55 crore on Thursday compared with that ... Read more

Bangladesh Bank on Thursday asked scheduled banks and non-bank financial institutions to introduce full-fledged e-tendering system by December 2015. The central bank issued the directive in line with its steps towards promoting green banking and developing eco-friendly internal management of the banks and financial

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is set to sell some $22 billion of shares on Thursday, capping a two-week road show that drew frenzied interest from investors worldwide and may be the world’s largest ever initial public offering, reports Reuters. The shares are expected to be priced after the markets

Signing of MoU in October Dhaka has agreed in principle to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank initiated by China to give loans to its member countries for meeting construction costs of the much-needed infrastructures. Economic relations division secretary Mohammad Mejbahuddin disclosed the government’s decision while talking to reporters after a meeting with finance minister AMA ... Read more

Income Tax Fair NBR bags Tk 475cr on 2nd day amid late-hour rush The National Board of Revenue collected Tk 475.39 crore in income tax on Wednesday, the second day of the weeklong tax fair across the country, with 31,044 people submitting their tax returns on the day. NBR officials said although the turnout was low ... Read more

Sme Info Sending To India Some of BB officials trying to save BDRAL recognition A section of Bangladesh Bank officials is trying to save the central bank’s recognition given to Bangladesh Development Ratting Agency Ltd although the central bank earlier took step to cancel the recognition due to alleged data trafficking to India by the ... Read more

Businesses say at International Investors’ Forum Investment policy based on colonial legacy, poor infrastructure, shortage of gas and electricity are the key challenges to attracting foreign direct investment in the country, experts said at a seminar on Wednesday. They also said that there were some regulatory barriers to attracting FDI and the government should address the ... Read more

Prime minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday urged foreign investors to take advantage offered by Bangladesh to expand their businesses. ‘The government of Bangladesh is committed to stay on its upward course to attract FDI and maintain investment-friendly environment for our economic development,’ she said. The prime minister was inaugurating International

The country posted a trade surplus of $195 million in July, for the first time in the last 14-15 years, but worries remained over the state of business situation as both export earnings and import payments dipped in the month, said Bangladesh Bank officials and economists. The export earnings stood at $2.96 billion in July, ... Read more

The country’s top taxpayers will be given the Commercially Important Person status for their contribution to the government exchequer, said commerce minister Tofail Ahmed on Tuesday. ‘I will talk to the finance minister [AMA Muhith] about giving CIP status to the top taxpayers and take necessary steps accordingly,’ said Tofail at the opening of the

Export Dev Fund BB doubles borrowing cap for plastic goods exporters Member mills of Bangladesh Plastic Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association will now be able to borrow up to $1 million a year instead of $5,00,000 from $1.5-billion export development fund of Bangladesh Bank, the central bank announced on Tuesday. The BB issued a circular ... Read more

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission has rejected a proposal of First Security Islam Bank Limited to issue rights share to raise Tk 200 crore as the bank failed to comply with rules related to defaulted loans. A BSEC notice posted on Dhaka Stock Exchange on Tuesday said, ‘The BSEC is not in a position to ... Read more

The country’s leading mobile operator Grameenphone and handset brand Symphony on Tuesday launched a low-cost smartphone with Firefox operating system in partnership with Mozilla, an organisation best known for the Firefox web browser. The new handset, Symphony GoFox F15, will cost Tk 4,650

Turnover crosses Tk 800cr mark again Dhaka stocks rebounded on Tuesday with the turnover crossing Tk 800-crore mark again in just one-day gap due to investors’ optimistic share purchasing expecting better returns. The key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSEX, rose by 1.05 per cent, or 49.48 points, to close at 4,759.39 points on ... Read more