Business

The National Board of Revenue has backtracked from the imposition of katha-based land transfer tax for privately-owned lands in Dhaka, Chittagong, Narayanganj and Gazipur because of complexities in collecting the tax by the land registration authorities. The revenue board on Wednesday issued a clarification

The state-owned Rupali Bank has sought around Tk 1337 crore from the government to meet its soaring capital deficit after Bangladesh Bank last month asked the ailing bank to become compliant latest by September, official sources said. Rupali Bank in a letter written to finance ministry last week

The National Board of Revenue has taken an initiative to impose surcharge at the rate of one per cent on mobile phone services including talk time to boost revenue collection from the sector, officials said. They said that the proposed surcharge would be named ‘development surcharge’. The revenue to be collected from the sector will be spent ... Read more

The government’s borrowing from the banking sector declined by 67.64 per cent in the just concluded financial year 2013-14 compared with that of a rise by 14.50 per cent in the FY13 due to a slower pace in implementation of the government’s development works. BB officials told New Age on Tuesday that the government had to ... Read more

Illegal Voip BTRC shortlists 5 cos to set up monitoring system The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission has short-listed five companies for developing a centralised monitoring system to curb illegal business in voice over internet protocol. BTRC officials said three foreign firms and two local firms were short-listed among eight applicants for developing and installing a system ... Read more

Informal firms say no TIN means no tax Formal business firms rated the National Board of Revenue officials lowest for honesty while informal businesses said that they were not interested in getting registered with the NBR to avoid taxes, according to a survey report. The survey titled ‘Tax Perception and Compliance Cost of the Formal Sector ... Read more

Dull Investment Situation BB buys $5.15b in FY14 to check taka appreciation Bangladesh Bank purchased a record amount of dollars — worth $5.15 billion — from the scheduled banks in the just concluded financial year 2013-14 with the aim of curbing depreciation of the greenback against the local currency taka, BB officials said. They said ... Read more

Groups of European and North American retailers have recently provided the names of five more readymade garment factories to the government-set review committee with the suggestion of immediate evacuation from the factories as their inspection teams have detected structural faults in the units. Of the five factories, three are on the inspection list of Accord

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission has warned ICB Asset Management Company Limited for its attempt to embezzle Tk 50 crore from the Bangladesh Fund. ICB AMCL unlawfully charged the stock market stabilisation fund Tk 75 crore as its formation fee at the rate of 1.50 per cent on the targeted size of the

Dhaka stocks declined for the forth trading session on Sunday with the turnover hitting one-and-half month low as the institutional investors were waiting to buy shares at cheap after year closing shares sell-offs. The key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSEX, closed at 4,411.15 points, shedding 0.56 per cent or 25.05 points. Turnover of the DSE ... Read more

Vegetable prices remain high The prices of onion, garlic and potato rose on the retail markets in the city over the week ending Friday as the demand for the items increased in the month of Ramadan. Ramadan, the fasting month for Muslims, began on Monday. Traders said the import price of onion from India increased

7 cos raise Tk 374.17cr in FY14 against Tk 179cr by 3 cos in FY13 Lower cost of fund has attracted apparel companies to the country’s capital market that resulted in 109.03 per cent or Tk 195.17 crore increase in fund collection by the sector in the just concluded fiscal year 2013-14 compared with that ... Read more

The National Board of Revenue has finalised the rules of collection of environment surcharge and health surcharge keeping a provision of freezing bank accounts of any company for not paying the newly imposed tax and violating any provision of the rules, officials said. The revenue board may also seize the goods of the company

The country’s credit growth in the private sector plunged again in May compared with that of the previous month as businesspeople are yet to get confidence back to expand their business amid political uncertainty, said officials of Bangladesh Bank. According to the BB data released on Thursday, the year-on-year credit growth rate in the private

Activity in India’s services sector grew at its fastest pace in well over a year in June as new business poured in, adding to signs of a pick-up in the economy even as inflation remains high, a survey showed on Thursday, reports Reuters. The HSBC Services Purchasing Managers’ Index, compiled by Markit, jumped to a 17-month ... Read more

The commerce minister, Tofail Ahmed, on Thursday said the statement of the US Trade Representative that the government of Bangladesh had not implemented substantial parts of the GSP action plan was unjustified and not based on facts. ‘The actual situation of the readymade garment sector

The country’s remittance inflow registered a negative growth in financial year 2013-14 for the first time in last 14 years against the backdrop of downward manpower exports during the period, said economists and Bangladesh Bank officials. According to BB data released on Thursday, remittance inflow

Revenue Collection Fy 2013-14 NBR taking tax in advance to make up for shortfall The National Board of Revenue is desperately trying to achieve the revenue earnings target (Tk 1,25,000 crore) through collecting tax in advance from the corporate taxpayers and realising dues from the state-owned entities, officials said. NBR high-ups instructed field level officials ... Read more

Some Islamic banks are removing the word ‘Islam’ from their names — a sign of both the potential of Islamic finance to grow, and the obstacles to it becoming mainstream, reports Reuters. In January, Dubai-based Noor Islamic Bank changed its name to Noor Bank. Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), the emirate’s largest sharia-compliant lender, now plans ... Read more

The government has increased the cash incentive to 3 per cent from 2 per cent for export of new textile products and expanding export of textile items to new markets other than US, Canada and European Union for financial year 2014-15. A Bangladesh Bank circular issued on Thursday said