DT e-Paper 14 April 2017

DT
10
Business
FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 2017
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Businesses celebrate Pohela Boishakh
• Shariful Islam
Bangladesh’s businesses community
is set to celebrate Halkhata today,
a traditional festival of opening
new account books on the first
day of Bangla New Year.
Halkhata refers to opening of
new red-coloured financial ledger
book on Pohela Boishakh, first day
of Bangla New Year.
On this occasion, businesses invite
customers to their shops and
welcome them with sweets, while
the customers are expected to clear
all old debts.
Halkhata, a part of tradition of
Bengali New Year, was introduced
in the era of Mughal Emperor Akbar
to collect taxes.
According to traders, a section
of businessmen in semi-urban,
urban and especially in old part of
Dhaka city areas celebrate Pohela
Boishakh opening Halkhata.
During a visit to old part of Dhaka
yesterday, traders were seen
busy getting ready to welcome
Bangla New Year 1424.
This year around 2,000 businesses
are scheduled to open Halkhata at
Tanti Bazar and Shankhari Bazar in
the city, traders said. The jewellers
were cleaning and decorating their
shops to welcome the New Year.
The businesses had already
bought a large amount of sweets
BBS Cables IPO approved
• Ibrahim Hossain Ovi
Workers at a shop in Babubazar, Dhaka busy making red-coloured note books used as halkhata by traders
Regulator has approved initial
public offering prospectus of BBS
Cables Limited to raise Tk20 crore
from the capital market.
The approval came at meeting
of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange
Commission yesterday.
BSEC Chairman Prof M Khairul
Hossain presided over the meeting.
According to the approval, the
company will offload 20m ordinary
shares of Tk10 each using fixed
price method.
As per the latest financial statement
ended on June 30, 2016, earning
per share (EPS) stood at Tk2.46,
while net assets value (NAV) without
revaluation was Tk16.87 per share.
IPO will help repay loan taken
from the commercial banks.
Banco Finance and Investment
Limited and ICB Capital Management
Limited will act as issue manager
of the IPO process.
The commission also approved
the proposal of Dutch Bangla Bank
Ltd to collect Tk500 crore through
offering non-convertible subordinated
bond to meet capital base for
Tier II. •
for guests and clients.
The stationary shops at the
city’s Babu Bazar saw an increase
in selling ledger books to be used
Halkhata. The ledger books are
red-coloured as the red is believed
to be the colour of propitious.
Tanti Bazaar, one of the oldest
parts of Dhaka city, houses numerous
small jewellery shops on the
both sides of its narrow alleys.
Many of these shops are old
with the business running from
one generation to another.
“Halkhata has lost its appeal to
some extent with the advancement
of technology but we are going to
celebrate Pohela Boishakh opening
Halkhata as new beginning,” Swapan
Shil, owner of New Gold and
Silver House, at Tanti Bazar, told
the Dhaka Tribune.
He said they already invited
their customers clients and bought
sweets, jewellery boxes and mugs
as gifts to be offered to customers.
Md Nuruzzaman, owner of M/S
Nipa Store at Shankhari Bazar, said
the tradition of Halkhata is a tradition
of Bangalis irrespective of religious
faith.
“The opening of Halkhata is
for all businessmen. On Pohela
Boishakh, I will hold a milad (an
Islamic way to thank Allah) to welcome
the New Year and open the
ledger book as Halkhata,” he said.
Caption: Workers at a
book-binding shop at Babu Bazar
area in Dhaka are seen busy making
new ledger books (Halkhata) ahead
of Pohela Boishakh. •
HC: Reconnect IGW of Bestec
• Ishtiaq Husain
High Court asked telecommunication
regulator to reconnect the
international gateway operation of
Bestec Telecom Limited.
The Court also directed Bestec
to pay Tk20 crore to Bangladesh
Telecommunication Regulatory
Commission and regular bills along
with arrears of Tk2 crore.
BTRC cancelled the license of
IGW operator Bestec Telecom Limited
as they failed to pay its dues of
Tk177 crore in time.
The regulatory body suspended
all types of operational activities of
Bestec on October 28, 2013.
Bestec is one of the major defaulters
among the IGW operators.
It started journey on March 7, 2013
after being awarded the IGW licence.
It’s a sister concern of Bestec
Group.
BTRC on 26 February 2017 issued
a memo cancelling the IGW licence
of Bestec for Bestec’s failure to pay
revenue sharing fees, annual license
fees, VAT and late fee amounting to
Tk197.35 crore to BTRC.
While impugning the memo of
cancellation of licence in the first
week of March 2017, Bestec filed a
writ petition with the High Court.
“The High Court stayed
the operation of the memo of
cancellation of IGW licence of
Bestec for a period of three months
and directed BTRC to reconnect the
IGW operation of Bestec provided
Bestec pay Tk20 crore to BTRC and
regular bills along with arrears of
Tk2 crore.” said Supreme Court
lawyer Barrister Sayed Mahsib
Hossain. •
MOP import to continue in FY 18
• Asif Showkat Kallol
The government has decided to extend
the Miureta-of-Potash import
deals with three countries including
Russia, Belarus and Canada.
Bangladesh Agriculture Development
Corporation (BADC) will
sign extension deals.
The import deals with the countries
will be extended to the end of
fiscal year 2017-18.
BADC proposal in this regard
COURTESY
will be placed to the meeting of
cabinet committee on economic
affairs on Sunday. Finance Minister
AMA Muhith will preside over the
meeting.
Department of Agriculture Extension
has conducted a survey on actual
demand of MOP in the country.
DAE estimated a demand of
850,000 tonne MOP in the country
in the fiscal year 2017-18.
Usually, the private companies
import MOP on behalf of the DAE.
The average import prices of the
fertiliser from the three countries -
Russia, Belarus and Canada - have
decreased by 5%.
In current fiscal year, under the
MOP import deal, Russia supplied
180,000 tonne of MOP.
The agreement is valid from
June 18, 2016 to June 30, 2017.
The BADC imports 180,000
tonne MOP from Belarus under the
deal valid from 24 June, 2016 to
June 30, 2017. •