The New Nation - Internet Edition

Fabrics worth Tk 80 lakh seized in Ctg

Chitagong Correspondent

Members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in a drive yesterday seized huge quantity of contraband Indian clothes worth Taka 8 million from city's Batiyari area.

Sources said that acting tip off, a squad of RAB- 7 raided Fouzdarhat Cadet College area at about 5:00 p.m. and seized huge of Indian clothes.

The also seized the goods laden a truck. None was arrested in this connection.

Steps to bring down inflation, prices of essentials taken: Aziz, DCCI chief seeks Army, BDR, RAB intervention to help reduce price hike

BUSINESS REPORT

The Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) organised a seminar on 'Price hike and Poverty Alleviation--Budget 2008-09' in cooperation with Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA) and Oxfam International at DCCI Auditorium on July 5.

Finance and Planning Adviser Dr AB Mirza Md Azizul Islam was the chief guest and Bangladesh Economic Association (BEA) President Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad moderated the seminar while and DCCI President Hossain Khaled was in the chair.

Finance and Planning Adviser Dr AB Mirza Md Azizul Islam said it was true that food inflation had significantly affected the life of the common people. In December 2007 the inflation reached 11.6 per cent on a point-to-point basis.

'But we should consider the inflation in comparison to our neighboring countries and international markets," he said.

The Finance Adviser said the government had taken a lot of significant initiatives including short-, medium- and long-term measures to curb inflation.

The short-term initiatives are: Dal-Bhat programme of BDR, open market sale of food grain at subsidised price, withdrawal of custom duty on import of food grains and edible oil increasing the amounts of food grains import lowering of interest rate against import credit of food grains regular monitoring of markets and fixation of maximum retail price for edible oil.

Medium terms measure are: increase of production and distribution of food grains through creation of wholesale markets in various place including Dhaka and introducing Consumers Right Protection Ordinance.

The Finance Adviser hopes these initiatives would help control price hike and the average inflation would come down to 9 percent in FY 2008-09.

Dr Islam added that the government was trying its best to develop every sector of the country. 'But we need collective efforts to achieve our targets. Our private sector plays a great role in economic development. So private sector should come forward. Private sector and government may work together for socio-economic development of the country,' he suggested.

Dr Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad said, "The people of the country are now in serious problem for continuous price-hike of essentials and we have to take time-bound measures to control the situation.

There is no chance for anybody to be dogmatic to a particular policy of poverty alleviation. Besides, the frequent natural disasters like flood, cyclone, Sidr are gradually increasing the sufferings of people while the price hike continues. We do our best to help the victims when struck by any disaster, but we can do better if we act before any disaster strikes us by taking necessary preventive measures."

Terming the present price hike of essential commodities as 'Silent Tsunami,' DCCI President Hossain Khaled said, "We should control the price hike by all means."

He informed that a recent statistics showed 83 per cent increase in global food price over the last three years. This has been causing serious threat to the rural and urban households who are not food buyers.

He also mentioned that 40 per cent of families in Bangladesh are spending more than 70 per cent of their income on food.

The DCCI President also suggested a few measures to reduce the hardship of the common people, like implementing the social protection measures of the government, establish cold storages in necessary areas to stop wastage of post-harvest crops etc.

He also called for interference of Army, BDR and RAB to help reduce the price hike.

Dr M Kabir Hasan, professor of University of New Orleans, USA and Dr Uttam Dev, CPD Research Fellow gave presentations on budget and related issues.

Among others, DCCI Vice-President Khandaker Shahidul Islam and Director MS Shekil Chowdhury took part in the discussion.

StanChart, Scholastica School sign Auto Billspay agreement

BUSINESS REPORT

Standard Chartered and Scholastica School have recently signed an Auto Billspay agreement on July 2 under which all the credit cardholders and accountholders of the bank will be able to avail the auto-debit facility against their cards/accounts to make the recurring fee payment of their children studying at Scholastica School.

Gitanka D Datta, Senior Business Manager, Cards of Standard Chartered Bank and Amer Ahmed, Director, Business Development of Ascent Group signed the MoU on behalf of their respective organizations.

Ms Syeda Madiha Murshed, Deputy Managing Director of Ascent Group, Rahel Ahmed, Director and Head of Local Corporate of Standard Chartered Bank and other senior officials of both the companies were present on the occasion.

For Standard Chartered Bank's customers, paying bills have never been easier! It may be mentioned that customers of the bank are enjoying this facility for their utility payments; e.g. mobile phone bill, electricity bill, Internet bill etc. Soon, other academic institutions will be joining the bank as its Auto Billspay partner.

Premier Bank half yearly managers' conference held

BUSINESS REPORT

The Half Yearly Managers' Conference-2008 of the Premier Bank Limited was held on July 5 at a hotel in the city. BH Haroon, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the bank inaugurated the conference as chief guest. Managing Director Khondker Fazle Rashid presided over the conference. Directors Nurul Amin, Independent Director Abu Haniff Khan, Additional Managing Director Md Mokhlesur Rahman, all managers and divisional heads in Head Office of the bank were present on the occasion.

At the end of June 2008, the bank has registered tremendous growth in deposits and advances and earned a hefty profit.

In his speech, BH Haroon lauded the half-yearly achievement of the bank up to June 2008 and called upon the managers to prepare themselves in a way that they could meet the challenges ahead and fulfill the budgetary target allocated for the year.

He expressed his satisfaction for achieving the profit for the half year 2008.

Khondker Fazle Rashid expressed his satisfaction over the efforts and achievement of the bank. He urged the managers to keep up the spirits to sustain the ongoing progress of the bank.

He pointed to personal loan and also financing of small and medium enterprises as a means to achieving the goal. He expressed his commitment to provide the customers with new and diversified products and services in a bid to keep pace with the prevailing market demand.

The conference also discussed various issues namely providing flexible and Innovative banking viz debit card, ATMs, internet services, introducing home banking facilities and position of the bank in CAMELS Rating etc.

Banglalink--largest network of customer care point

BUSINESS REPORT

Banglalink started its journey three years ago with only 30,000 customers. Now it is the fastest growing mobile operator and in 2007 claimed the No. 2 position in the telecommunication industry with over 8 million subscribers. Banglalink strives to give their customers the best of service and the fastest solution to their queries.

In order to do that banglalink has the state of the art call centre which serves their customers 24 hours 7 days a week. To cater to the customer needs banglalink has the largest network of customer service points spread allover the country. With more than 700 customer care points around the country banglalink currently has the largest network of customer care points (which includes banglalink customer care centers, banglalink points and banglalink service points) to serve the customers in times of need.

A passionate and vigilant team is there to provide quality and prompt service. To highlight their efforts in service excellence, banglalink has launched a comprehensive campaign on customer care service. banglalink's customer care campaign talks about promises towards customers. The payoff line for the campaign is "we are there for you-we promise"

The television commercial has been developed with various slices of life where we see different people looking out for a customer care point when they needed it. We see that whatever the situation or when ever it may be they will find a customer care point nearby to serve them. The vast network of banglalink customer care points are waiting to serve them and provide them with prompt solutions.

Carrot Communication has developed the concept for the customer care campaign and the television commercial was directed by Khislu.

The Banglalink Customer Care TVC has taken off as a huge success, and has established banglalink's aim to provide excellent customer care to its clients very well indeed.

Malaysia goes on sale! Fly with 5 star airline, Malaysia Airlines

Fly with 5 Star Airline, Malaysia Airlines to Malaysia as the whole country goes on sale from now until September 1.

A true shopaholics' paradise, Malaysia's biggest annual sale carnival entitles shoppers to astounding discounts and special offers at countless shopping malls and stores nationwide.

The best way to fly to Malaysia is with the national carrier, Malaysia Airlines who is offering its latest Everyday Low Fares with one way fares priced for from Dhaka as low as US$29 to Kuala Lumpur one way. One way fares from Kuala Lumpur to Penang and Langkawi starts from US$9 and US$19. Fares do not include airport taxes and applicable surcharges.

The best part is that customers will enjoy 20kgs free baggage allowance, which is a must considering the many things on sale, refreshment on board, convenient schedules, on time departures, assigned seats and many other benefits that only a 5 Star Carrier can offer.

These travel deals are available exclusively at www.malaysiaairlines.com from now until 13 July 2008, for travel between August 10 and March 31, 2009.

"Response to ELF has been great as customers realised the value of ELF which comes with 5 Star services. Since we launched ELF on 5th May, it has generated sales of some RM50 million and this amount includes incremental sales of our normal fares which has increased 10%," said Nur Shaffik Haris, Area Manager, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.

"Another interesting feature of ELF is the flexibility for customers to mix the promotional low fares with regular ones. For instance, if the lowest fare is only available on one leg of the journey but not available on the return leg due to the choice of travel date, a customer can still purchase a combination of low fare and the regular fare for the intended journey,"

Complementing the ELF fares are holiday packages offered by Golden Holidays which is offering ground packages with prices beginning from USD38. The many packages include a 2D/lN in Penang from USD38, 2D/IN in Langkawi from USD50 and 2D/IN in Kuala Lumpur from USD56. Packages include free tour, return airport transfer, accommodation and breakfast.

Take advantage of ELF and these attractive ground packages to also check out exciting and fun activities such as the Malaysia Flora Fest 2008, Malaysia International Fireworks Competition, MTV Asia Awards 2008, Kinabalu International Climbathon 2008 and many more.

Research methods workshop starts at ULAB

A three-week long 'Research Methods for Business and the Social Sciences' began at the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) campus from July 3.

Prof Rafiqul Islam, Vice Chancellor of the ULAB inaugurated the workshop. The workshop's coordinator is Dr Syed Saad Andaleeb, Professor and Chair of Marketing, Penn Stat Erie, USA and Editor of the Journal of Bangladesh Studies.

Prof Imran Rahman, Director, School of Business, ULAB was also present on the occasion. Twenty-two young faculties from ULAB, EWU, NSU, IUB, BRAC, UIU, and other development organizations have been participating in the workshop.

Nazmul, Rafiq elected President, GS of IBA Alumni Association

Nazmul Hassan, the Chief Executive Officer of Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd (BPL) and the Secretary General of Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries (BAPI) was elected as the new President and M Rafiqul Islam, CEO of Management Consulting Group as General Secretary of IBA Alumni Association in an election held June 27 last.

Other elected representatives of the Executive Committee are renowned professionals and entrepreneurs--Niaz Habib and Johra Bebe (Vice Presidents); Md Kamrul Ahsan (Joint Secretary); Shariful Moslemin Khan (Treasurer); M Salahuddin Chowdhury (Organizing Secretary); Asif Touhid (Seminar Secretary); James Jakob Ribero (Publication Secretary); Afzalul Hasan Khan (Cultural and Sports Secretary); Syed Monzurul Huq, Neaz Ahmed, Nurul Haq Majumder, M. Shakil Wahed, Shoeb Ahmed Masud, Syed Masud Hossain, Masudul Haque Bhuiyan, Sk Shabab Ahmed, Quazi Mahmud Ahmed, Gazi Munir Uddin, Mohammad Emran and Rahat Khan (Members).

The election (for 2008-09) was conducted by Professor Dr Rahim B Talukdar, former Director of IBA and Vice Chancellor, Eastern University as the Chief Election Commissioner.

Nazmul Hassan, the newly elected president said "The members of our alumni association represent graduates of IBA, the apex business school, the largest leader and entrepreneur production centre of the country. We, the new executive committee are obligated to promote and protect our identity, image and brand name nationally and globally. More importantly we need to support our new members and also to contribute to our society through successful business development. With all your support we aim IBA Alumni Association to garner continued glory at home and abroad."

FBCCI condemns attack on business houses of director

Acting President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Abul Kashem Ahmed strongly condemned the brutal atttack and robbery at the business houses of Mohammad Amirul Haque, Director, FBCCI and a renowned businessman of the country on July 3. The business leaders feel insecure at this incident happened at different business houses of Amirul Haque at Agrabad, Chittagong including kidnapping of one of the business partners of Haque. Abul Kashem Ahmed expressed deep concern at this incident. It will hamper smooth running of the business activities, the business leaders feared.