DBL Group to diversify business in non-traditional areas

Dulal Brothers Ltd (DBL) Group has moved to diversify its business especially in the non-traditional areas, facilitating reduction of the country's dependency on import, its top official said. Under its diversification programme, two separate subsidiary companies of the group are...

Steps taken to explore regional export mkts

The government has taken a set of proactive measures to make a breakthrough in regional export markets to reduce the country's reliance on some selected markets and utilising the optimum potentials of local industries, officials at the Export Promotion Bureau...

Excess liquidity in banks: A blessing or curse?

Who will be unhappy if he or she has plenty of money all around him or her? There is no reason to be unhappy at all as he or she can sleep with it but unhappiness arises if he or...

A large budget for achieving higher GDP growth

Press reports that the size of the budget for the upcoming fiscal year (FY 2014-15), as hinted by the Finance Minister, might be around Tk 2490 billion (249,000 crore) have drawn sharp reaction from a section of economists. These economists,...

Living with toxic tannery

There are few signs of reform at Bangladesh's leather industry where business is booming thanks to the West's growing demand for cheap leather items. Living with toxic chemicals, Mokter Hossain loads animal hides into huge drums filled with still more...

Parenting that shapes the posterity

You never know the love of your parents until you become a parent yourself or before you see their empty chairs. Parents were not the role models to your view when you were a child; but now as you have...

e-ticket system in transport sector fails to make any headway

Move to introduce electronic ticket system by the government in transport sector has failed due to non-cooperation by the transport workers to use it. Under the Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA), the tickets based on Information and Communication Technology (ICT),...

Move to raise exports to African countries

The government in association with private businesses has taken a move to raise exports to African countries, officials have said. With this end in view the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) has set a target to increase exports to Africa to...

EPB, BBC tie up to facilitate Bangladeshi cos

A France-based business consultancy in association with the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) of Bangladesh is going to help Bangladeshi apparel makers participate in a Paris textile fair scheduled for September. Bangladesh Business Consulting (BBC), headed by a Bangladeshi-French businessman, is...

Smartphones start dominating country\\\'s mobile phone mkt

Smartphones are slowly occupying the country's feature-phone market as the demand for them continues to rise following introduction of 3G or third generation internet services coupled with affordable prices.   The sales of smartphones currently hover around 40 per cent or...

Connecting the dots: Tobacco use, diabetes, and tuberculosis

Tobacco related illness kills nearly 6.0 million people each year, accounting for 1 in 10 of all deaths globally. More than 5.4 million of these deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while more than 600,000 are due to...

Netting more taxpayers: Thinking out of box

Farid, from Bangladesh, and Prashanta, from India, work at a pizza store on Veirs Mill Road at Wheaton in Maryland. They work almost every day; both of them get hefty overtime pay as they work for more than 40 hours...

The necessity of a transport research institute

Road and transport research work now-a-days is not only confined to developed nations but it is now also being exercised in developing nations like India, Malaysia, etc. Bangladesh is one of the emerging nations, but its higher population density with...

For public toilets in capital free of cost

In 1925, the great Indian politician Mahatma Gandhi said, "Sanitation is more important than independence". This sentence is very simple but important and meaningful. He realized that people are suffering lots of health and environmental problems due to lack of...

Politicians are ensnared: is there any way out?

The welfare, development, peace and plethora of a country are at the hands of the politicians who are responsible and vested with the specific tasks. The duties and responsibilities of the politicians, political leaders and the citizens at large are...

From the finite to the infinity

Thirteen years of age is considered raw and tender by any standard but for a handful of specially gifted persons this is enough to gain immortality. Two teenagers of this age have created history by becoming the world's youngest ever...

Merchant banks, stock brokers in dire straits

Very low turnover coupled with non-payment of a large amount of outstanding loans by the clients for long have put a good number of merchant banks and stock brokers in serious financial difficulty, market insiders said. According to the officials...

Chinese cos intensify lobbying for deep seaport contract

Lobbying on the part of the prospective Chinese firms has intensified, of late, over the strong indication that Dhaka and Beijing might strike a framework deal next month on the construction of a deep seaport at Sonadia at an estimated...

Dissolve BASIC Bank board: BB

The central bank has recommended the government to take action against the board of directors of BASIC Bank Limited in line with the existing Banking Companies Act. "We've recommended the government for taking action against the board of directors of...

BPO set to expand EMTS to grassroots level

Bangladesh Post Office (BPO) is set to expand its Electronic Money Transfer Service (EMTS) to door steps of people across the country with a view to recovering its lost glory, a high official said. The official said expansion of the...

98,731 apply for re-scrutiny of SSC exam papers

Despite glorious results of Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and equivalent examinations, a considerable number of students have challenged the published results and applied for reassessment of their examination papers. According to official data, a total of 98,731 SSC and its...

cellbazar.com renamed as ‘ekhanei.com’

cellbazar.com, a leading online marketplace in Bangladesh, has been renamed as "ekhanei.com", which will be formally launched in next week. Formerly owned by Telenor Group, the company will now be run under a joint venture (JV) partnering with another Norwegian...

Stopping leakage of question papers: A general approach

Stopping leaking of examination question papers has become urgent. This plague, if continues, will push the nation to the bottom while impoverishing education. The Financial Express published two articles on the issue on May 13 and May 22. The first...

Guarding against fraudulent activities in mobile banking

Cell phone has added a new dimension to money transaction and banking system. This is called mobile banking system. The system involves the use of the cell phones in several types of banking transactions. Mobile banking differs from mobile payments,...

Poisonous foods unfold a frightening spectre

The High Court (HC) recently directed the government to issue a gazette notification for enforcement of the safe food law in order to check food adulteration. Another important issue the directive covers is the probable formation of a separate body...

Stocks close flat amid choppy trading

Stocks ended flat into the red on Thursday amid choppy trading throughout the session as investors remained cautious ahead of budget announcement. The market strated with a positive note but did not sustain. DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka...

Stocks open positive

The prices of most of the shares on both bourses – Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) – saw positive trend in early hours of trading on Thursday amid modest see-saw, the last trading day of the...

Govt to extend time limit for aromatic rice export

The government is set to extend the time limit for exporting aromatic rice to the world markets by another year, officials said. In this connection, the ministry of commerce (MoC) has sent last week a proposal to the ministry of...

BD businessmen expect to double annual trade with Philippines

Country's businessmen are expecting to double the annual bilateral trade with the Philippines within the next few years considering the potential between the two countries, a joint chamber leader said. "There is potential to increase annual bilateral trade with the...

Empowering women: Empowering Bangladesh

The World Development Report 2012 finds that 'gender equality and economic development are inextricably linked'. But unfortunately, 'despite many international agreements affirming their rights, women are still much more likely than men to be poor and illiterate, have less access...