ePaper_2nd Edition_October 19, 2016

Business 13
DT
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2016
Purchase limits for state-run firms likely
• Asif Showkat Kallol
The government has planned to
limit the purchase of goods and
services by the state-owned companies,
official sources said.
The Implementation Monitoring
and Evaluation Division under
the Ministry of Planning recently
proposed to include a provision
for fixing the purchase limit of the
companies under the Company Act
1994.
“The government has decided
to limit the purchase by the stateowned
firms after the proposal,” an
official told the Dhaka Tribune. He
said the IMED proposal will be placed
at the cabinet committee on economic
affairs meeting Wednesday.
According to the proposal, it is
compulsory to follow the Section
3 (c) of the Public Procurement Act
2006 and the Public Procurement
Rules 2008.
“There is no clear statement
about issuing public procurement
for companies under the Company
Act. As a result, the power of the
board of directors of the companies
Digital World 2016 begins today
• Ishtiaq Husain
Around 400
exhibitors from
different countries
will participate
The country’s largest digital expo-Digital
World 2016-begins today
at the International Convention City
Bashundhara (ICCB) in the capital
to showcase the technology-based
innovations and achievements and
facilitate in a single platform for
sharing ICT knowledge and idea.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
will inaugurate the 3-day flagship
annual event of the country’s ICT
sector with the theme ‘Non-stop
Bangladesh’.
The ICT Division is organising
the flagship annual event with assistance
of the Bangladesh Computer
Council (BCC), Bangladesh Association
of Software and Information
Services (BASIS) and A2I programme
of the Prime Minister’s office.’
Around 400 exhibitors from different
countries including Bangladesh
will participate in the event.
Among them, many are policy-makers,
senior government officials &
ministers, industry leaders, civil society
spokespersons, investors and
multinational software vendors.
Representatives of ICT companies,
international ICT associations,
international development
agencies, local software
development firms will be present
alongside multinational and local
companies, Govt. departments &
agencies implementing successful
ICT & e-Governance projects.
Representatives from renowned IT
training institutes as well as University
faculty members and students
will also be present.
Different ministry will showcase
e-Services in order to feature the development
of e-governance in achieving
the vision 2021 “Digital Bangladesh”.
Its purpose is to exhibit government
online service, as well as exchange information
between the government
and a variety of recipients, citizens,
business and also other government.
The expo mainly focuses on the
prompt and accelerated transformation
of Bangladesh, from being a traditional
government to a digital one
in a convenient, efficient and transparent
manner. This year about 40+
stalls will exhibit various e-Services
provided by the government. •
for permission is transferred to the
cabinet committee on economic
affairs.”
IMED made three recommendations
on imposing limits on the
purchase of services and goods by
the state-run firms. The amount
of the state-owned enterprises for
the purchase of services is Tk500
crore. In the case of purchasing
goods the limit will be Tk200 crore.
Regarding the purchase of intellectual
and professional services,
the state-run companies’ board of
directors can approve the purchase
up to Tk50 crore while the category-based
financial measures must
be approved by the cabinet committee
on economic affairs fixing
specific limits, the proposal said. •
Court asks CID to
submit probe report
on reserve heist case
• Md Sanaul Islam Tipu
A Dhaka court again asked the
Criminal Investigation Department
to submit the probe report of the
Bangladesh Bank reserve heist case
on November 16.
Metropolitan Magistrate Md
Maruf Hossain Tuesday passed the
order after CID’s Additional Police
Super Muhammad Raihanul Islam,
investigation officer of the case,
failed to submit the report before the
court. The scheduled day for submission
of the report was October 18.
On March 22, Metropolitan Magistrate
Md Mahbubur Rahman allowed
CID to conduct forensic test
on three computer’s hard disks of
Bangladesh Bank in the case.
The three hard disks were seized
from the central bank after the reserve
heist incident recently.
On March 15, the central bank’s
Joint Director M Jubayer Bin Huda
lodged the case with Motijheel Police
Station against some unidentified
people.
The case was filed under the
Money Laundering Act, Information
and Communication Technology
Act and Bangladesh Penal Code. •
Walton makes strong
foothold in e-commerce
• Tribune Business Desk
Walton, a local manufacturer of
electronics and home appliance,
makes strong foothold in its e-commerce
business with monthly sales
of about Tk50 lakh per month.
The e-commerce site of Walton
gained popularity within a short
span of time as a good number of
buyers are now preferred to buy
electronics products sitting at
home, said a Walton press release.
Conditional free delivery also
attracted the consumers to shop
using e-commerce facilities provided
by the Walton.
In October last year, Walton has
launched the experimental operation
of e-commerce site, which was inaugurated
by Sate Minister for ICT Junaid
Ahmed Palak at Walton Hi-Tech
Industries at Chandra in Gazipur.
E-commerce service was
opened for customers from November
last year. Since then, the
sales of Walton products have been
in an upward trend.
“The e-commerce business is
booming in Bangladesh. Although
there is no perfect statistics, the
number of e-commerce sites in
Bangladesh may be about one
thousand, said E-commerce Association
of Bangladesh (E-cab) president
Razib Ahmed
As a single brand, Walton is
marking a good sing in e-commerce
business in a short time, he said
adding that there are also some other
brands like Arong, Food Panda,
Pran and Nitol are also experiencing
sound business in e-commerce.
“We are strongly committed to
bring the advanced technology
based electronics products at customers’
doorsteps,” said Md Liakat
Ali, additional director (IT) of Walton
Group.
Now, customers can purchase
Walton products from any corner
of the country using our e-commerce
site, said Liakat.
Due to the launch of e-commerce
operation, the expatriate
Bangladeshis are also now able
to purchase Walton products, he
said adding that “Already, a good
number of expatriate Bangladeshis
has purchased Walton products
through on-line.”
For buying products through
e-commerce, the customers have to
browse www.waltonbd.com. •
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim speaks at a press conference in Dhaka yesterday. Story on page 1
Dhaka Bank, Gemcon sign MoU
for payroll banking
• Tribune Business Desk
Dhaka Bank Limited and Gemcon
Group recently signed a Memorandum
of Understanding for Payroll
Banking Services.
Dr Kazi Anis Ahmed, director of
MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU
Gemcon Group, and Md Shafquat
Hossain, head of Consumer Banking
at Dhaka Bank Ltd were present
at the signing ceremony, said a
press release.
Among other high officials,
Capt ZA Zakir (Retd), CFO of Gemcon
Group, HM Mostafizur Rahaman,
vice president and head of
Cards Business of Dhaka Bank Ltd,
Fayyaz A Mustafa, SAVP of Payroll
Banking of Dhaka Bank Ltd, and
Firoz Alam, GM (Finance) of Gemcon
Group, were also present. •