The National Board of Revenue received 758,964 tax returns from individual taxpayers by the end of the extended deadline in the fiscal year 2009-10.
   The deadline expired on Thursday.
   The number of tax returns submitted was up by only 1 per cent compared to the number in the previous 2008-09 fiscal year, said NBR member Aminur Rahman at a press briefing on Sunday.
   The board had to extend the deadline twice to surpass last year’s number of 749,000 tax returns. The deadline was first extended for one month from September 30 and then again until November 12.
   The board received Tk 859.93 crore from taxpayers, up by 36.28 per cent from the previous year, he added.
   Rahman said about one third of the holders of taxpayer’s identification number had failed to submit mandatory tax returns and warned that the board would take legal action against the tax dodgers. There are around 2.2 million TIN holders in the country.
   ‘Legal steps will be taken against those who would be unable to give valid reasons for failing to submit income tax returns by the extended deadline,’ he said.
   According to the existing income tax laws, individual taxpayers must submit their returns by the end of September. But it has been seen over the past several years that the deadline is extended at least once.
   Acting NBR chairman Jahan Ara Siddiqi and member Syed Aminul Karim who were present at the press briefing told reporters that revenue collection had grown by 11.90 per cent in the first four months of the fiscal over the same period of the previous fiscal.
   A total of Tk 16,630 crore was collected in revenue in July-October period of the current fiscal year. The amount was Tk 14,861.55 crore during the same period of last fiscal.
   The NBR was given a revenue target of Tk 61,000 crore in the current fiscal.
   All revenue heads recorded a positive growth excepting value added tax at import stage and turnover tax which were -2.20 per cent and -21.28 per cent respectively in July-October period.

India has struck deals to import wheat for the first time in two years as local prices rose up to 30 per cent above import costs in the south on concerns that the winter crop may fail to meet expectations.
   While India’s surprise entry into the global wheat market amounted to a tiny 10,000 tonnes, traders said more deals could quickly follow and one trade official said the world’s second-biggest producer could buy 1 million tonnes by March if the government changes shipping rules that block bulk imports.
   The deals could support benchmark Chicago Board of Trade prices that have risen 6-½ per cent this week on large inflow of smart money into the commodity markets. But prices are down about 13 per cent in the year-to-date, weighed down by a global surplus that may boost US stocks to a decade high.
   ‘Our company has sold some wheat in containers to India,’ said a Singapore-based trader. ‘I have done some deals today.’
   Deals for some 10,000 tonnes of mainly Australian prime wheat in containers were concluded at between $270 and $300 a tonne, including cost and freight, for shipment in January, traders said. Current rules only allow imports in small containers, not the larger bulk carriers that account for most seaborne trade.
   Two other traders in Singapore and India confirmed the deals.
   Local wheat was quoted around $329 to $350 in southern India after the government, which fixes the price of wheat it buys from farmers, a week ago raised the price by 3 per cent this year. While smaller than the 18 per cent in each of the previous years, it is in contrast to falling global rates.
   Although India is sitting on ample supplies of wheat, this year’s poor monsoon has raised doubts about the prospects of the winter-sown wheat crop. India had 28.2 million tonnes of wheat in government stocks by October 1, against a target of 11 million tonnes.
   Industry officials said India could buy up to a million tonnes of wheat, including cheaper varieties such as the Black Sea wheat which is quoted around $230-$235 a tonne C&F into Asia.
   ‘We are getting premium quality wheat at cheaper rates. That’s the reason why we are buying,’ said Veena Sharma, secretary of the Roller Flour Millers Federation of India, adding that imports could hit 1 million tonnes if import rules were relaxed.
   India’s farm output is set to fall this year after patchy monsoon rains, prompting New Delhi to scrap duty on rice imports and seek the grain from international market for the first time.
   The government aims to increase India’s 2009/10 wheat output by 2.5 per cent from last year’s record 80.6 million tonnes, but analysts say this would be difficult as the worst June-September monsoon in 37 years has left the soil too dry, and reservoirs are short of water.
   US wheat stockpile will be the largest in 10 years at 885 million bushels when 2010 harvest begins, mainly due to a slowdown in exports, according to the US Department of Agriculture.
   Traders said they were waiting for the first cargo to clear Indian customs, with more shipments to follow, as prices were attractive for mills in southern India to import wheat.

A seven-day long silk fair began here on Sunday amidst call for government initiatives to save country’s silk industry.
   The Rajshahi city mayor, AHM Khairuzzaman Liton, inaugurated the fair at the green plaza of the Rajshahi City Corporation.
   Bangladesh Silk Industry Owners’ Association and two Rajshahi-based non-government organisations — Barendra Unnayan Prochesta and Sachetan — jointly organised the fair.
   Inaugurating the fair, mayor Liton called upon the government to take initiatives to save the silk industry of the country.
   ‘If the government takes necessary steps, traditional silk will survive for years,’ he said.
   Liton told the audience that he is trying to reopen the closed Rajshahi Silk Factory under private public partnership.
   He said that the previous Awami League government (1996-2001) had sanctioned money to make Rajshahi an industrial city, but the project did not go ahead with the change of the government.
   The mayor said that owing to conspiracy, North Bengal is failing to develop like other regions of the country.
   The inaugural session was addressed, among others, by Sunil Chandra Paul, chairman of the Rajshahi Reshom Board, Manjur Faruk Chowdhury, president of Bangladesh Silk Industry Owners’ Association, former president Mohammed Merazul Alam and SM Abu Talib, director of Silk Research and Training Institute, Rajsahahi.
   The organisers said that such fairs would be organised in other divisional headquarters.

Trading of the shares of Grameenphone Ltd begins at the Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges today.
   The mobile phone operator will make its debut at the bourses under ‘N’ category that groups newly listed companies, said sources in the bourses.
   Earlier, the country’s largest mobile phone operator floated 6,94,39,400 ordinary shares to raise Tk 486.08 crore through an initial public offering.
   This was the largest IPO offered by any company in the history of the country’s stock market.
   The subscription of the IPO of Grameenphone began on October 4. The subscription closed for the local people on October 8. For the non-resident Bangladeshis, it closed on October 18. The lottery for the allotment of the shares was held on October 28.
   The face value of the shares of the company is Tk 10 each. The issue price was Tk 70 with a premium of Tk 60. Market lot has been fixed at 200 shares.
   On August 20, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the stock market regulator, gave its final nod to the private telecom company’s application for floating its IPO.

The government has appointed eminent economist and president of Bangladesh Economic Association Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad as chairman of the Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation for three years, official source said.
   The finance ministry issued a circular on Sunday announcing the appointment.
   When contracted, Qazi Kholiquzzaman told New Age that he would go to Singapore for a medical checkup and would join the foundation after coming to the country. The tenure of the PKSF chairman, economist and professor of the Dhaka University Economist department Wahiduddin Mahmud ended recently.

Neeraj Swaroop, regional chief executive for India and South Asia of Standard Chartered Bank, arrives in Dhaka today for a two-day official visit.
   During his visit, Neeraj will meet regulators, external stakeholders and senior officials of the bank, said a news release. Neeraj is responsible for the bank’s operations in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Afghanistan, and Mauritius. He is also the chairman of Standard Chartered Nepal Ltd.

As some indicators go from strength to strength, an alarming inertia persists in both local and foreign investment, while idle funds risk raising inflationary pressures.
   The finance minister, central bank governor and the country’s economists all echo the same concern, that the biggest challenge for the Bangladesh economy is to divert huge amounts of excess liquidity into productive investment.
   At the start of the year, low investment in the country was a legacy of a two-year period of emergency coupled with the caretaker government’s anti-corruption crackdown against businessmen, among others.
   But business leaders and economists point out that those particular investment barriers disappeared with the newly elected government taking the reins in January this year.
   And yet stagnancy in investment still prevails with the year ending, they sayThey also hold that inertia in investment will persist unless there are improvements in infrastructure, bureaucratic complexities and law and order.
   Finance minister AMA Muhith has acknowledged the challenges ahead in a recent speech in parliament.
   He told bdnews24.com this week, ‘Investment stagnancy still persists mainly due to two reasons: one is the installation of a new government and so local investors are still taking a ‘wait and see’ approach.’
   The other is global recession which has dampened overseas investment, he said.
   ‘So we are focused on wooing local investors, as foreign investors will stay clear until local investment is revamped,’ he said.
   Poor local investment has been reflected in falling imports of capital machinery and raw materials for industry. Both fell by 22 per cent during the first quarter. But Bangladesh Bank has said productive imports have been on the rise again from September, though it has yet to release figures.
   Foreign Direct Investment dropped to $126 million during July-August of the current fiscal year, while the figure hit $201 million during the same period of last fiscal year.
   Figures available up to August indicate that loan disbursement in to the private sector had not improved during July-August period; rather it marks a decline.
   Meanwhile, just 10 per cent of the Annual Development Programme was implemented during the first quarter (July-Sept).
   FBBCI president Annisul Haq said, ‘Local investment will not rise unless gas and electricity crises, stifling bureaucracy and high interest rates are addressed.’
   He urged the government to pay attention to the issues.
   Former commerce minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury believes there are other issues too.
   ‘Gas and power crises are not the major issues. Rather, law and order insecurity mainly stands in the way of investment.’
   Muhith said, ‘We have already launched steps to combat high interest rate and bureaucratic complexities which are a major hurdle to raise investment’
   ‘We are moving to address the gas and electricity crises,’ he said.
   The government is also taking measures to ensure industrial security.
   Muhith was also optimistic as import of capital machinery showed a rise in September.
   ‘This is undoubtedly a good sign, which indicates that investment is about to pick up,’ he said
   Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman also told bdnews24.com that the wheels of investment were turning again.
   He said, positive signs were apparent in industrial and service sectors alongside agriculture.
   Along with capital machinery, imports of raw materials are on the rise as are large loans, he said.
   A joint survey launched by Bangladesh Investment Climate Fund and International Chamber of Commerce-Bangladesh indicates that though the first three quarters of the calendar year (Jan-Sept) saw low business and investment, the last quarter (Oct-Dec) is expected to see one-third growth.
   The BIF-Bangladesh Business Survey 2009: Reflection of Opinions of Businessmen, released on Nov 5, interviewed 778 business firms in different parts of the country from July-September.
   Former caretaker adviser Wahid Uddin Mahmud said different sectors of economy including investment are slow-moving due to diverse problems.
   But he welcomed the view of businessmen in that the sluggish trend was lifting toward the end of the year.
   The finance minister said, ‘Investment inertia resulting from intimidation and harassment of businessmen by the last care-taker government is yet to lift.’

The United Arab Emirates can be a major destination for skilled and semi-skilled manpower in the next five years especially in hotel management sector as this gulf country is going to invest $1.5 trillion in hotels and travelling to turn itself into one of the prime tourism hubs in the globe.
   ‘About 100 hotels are expected to be opened by next two years and the country needs lots of skilled people in hotel management as well as utility services,’ Bangladesh Ambassador to UAE Nazmul Quaunine told the news agency in Dubai recently.
   He said the Bangladesh mission has communicated the matter to all concerned offices in Dhaka including the expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment ministry to provide training for the people, intending to be employed abroad.
   ‘It’s a competitive world, if we couldn’t manage to send skilled and semi-skilled manpower within the time, this bulk will automatically move to other countries,’ he said.
   Presently, the UAE is recruiting 15,000 to 20,000 Bangladeshi workers per month amid the ongoing global economic crisis, which made the country the largest manpower destination for Bangladesh.
   Qatar and Saudi Arabia are creating only 3000 to 2500 jobs per month, he added.
   The UAE government made a rule in last May that all payment to the overseas workers must be made through banks as per the strong lobbing of the Bangladesh mission, he said.
   ‘After implementing the rules, rights of seven lakh Bangladeshi labours in the UAE are ensured and presently no workers are facing harassment about salary,’ he said.
   Bangladesh needs to set up a special training center equipped with all modern facilities to provide Arabic and English language training targeting the intended semi-skilled manpower.
   He said the local Bangladeshi mission formed a special team, which regularly visited the workplace of Bangladeshi labours to see their well being physically.

Md Nurul Islam joined Prime Islami Life Insurance Ltd as deputy managing director recently.
   Prior to his joining, Nurul Islam worked as deputy managing director in Meghna Life Insurance Company Ltd, said a news release.
   Islam started his insurance career in 1989 with Jiban Bima Corporation. During his twenty years in service, he has held important posts in National Life Insurance Ltd and Popular Life Insurance Company Ltd.

Japan’s biggest bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group plans to boost its capital by some one trillion yen ($11 billion) through public offerings of common stock, news reports said Saturday.
   The banking group plans to carry out the capital increase by the end of December, the Nikkei business daily and other media said.
   If realised, this would be the largest capital boost by common stock in Japan, Nikkei said, adding that this was in response to global regulatory pushes for improved capital bases at banks.
   MUFG plans for offerings of as many as 2.5 billion shares, which will be valued at 1.27 trillion yen based on the bank’s closing price of 508 yen Friday, the newspaper said. MUFG implemented an 800 billion yen capital increase by offering common stock and preferred shares from December of last year to January as part of its effort to survive the global financial crisis.

The board of directors of Padma Oil Co has recommended 50 per cent cash dividend (Tk5 per share) and 200 per cent stock dividend (two bonus shares for every one share held) for the year 2008-2009. Date of AGM: 23.01.10, Time: 11:30am, Venue: Guptakhal, Patenga, Chittagong. Record Date: 07.12.09.The board has also decided to increase the authorised capital from Tk10 crore to Tk100 crore, subject to the approval of regulatory authority and the shareholders in the forthcoming AGM.
   
   Apex Weaving
   There will be no price limit on the trading of the shares of the company today following its corporate declaration.
   
   Eastern Housing
   Normal trading of the shares of the company will resume today after record date.
   
   Shahjalal Islami Bank
   Alhaj Sajjatuz Jumma, one of the sponsors/directors of the bank, has reported his intention to sell 10,000 shares (bonus share) out of his total holdings of 6,47,431 shares of the bank at prevailing market price through the stock exchange within next 30 working days.
   
   Information Services Network
   Najma Enayetullah Khan, one of the sponsors/directors of the company, has reported her intention to buy 1,000 shares of the company at prevailing market price through the stock exchange within next 30 working days.
   S Alam Cold Rolled Steels
   Normal trading of the shares of the company will resume today after record date for EGM.
   
   Samata Leather
   Normal trading of the shares of the company will resume today following the starting date of book closure.
   
   Hakkani Pulp and Paper
   Normal trading of the shares of the company will resume today following the starting date of book closure.
   
   Bangladesh Plantation
   Trading of the shares of the company will remain suspended today as book closure will start from tomorrow.
   Source: DSE

Asia-Pacific leaders including the US and Chinese presidents Sunday vowed to remake the world economy after the worst financial crisis in decades, rejecting protectionism and old models of growth.
   Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum leaders, who together steer more than half the global economy, also said they would persist with hefty stimulus spending ‘until a durable economic recovery has clearly taken hold’.
   US President Barack Obama pressed Asian leaders at the weekend summit in Singapore to retool their export-led economies and rebalance world growth, or risk a ‘drift from crisis to crisis’.
   But Obama was subject to much criticism in Singapore over his perceived neglect of free trade, with Congress and powerful Democratic barons in the trade union movement clamouring to protect US industry as joblessness soars.
   In a concluding declaration, the leaders said: ‘We firmly reject all forms of protectionism and reaffirm our commitment to keep markets open and refrain from raising new barriers to investment or to trade in goods and services.’
   ‘We cannot go back to ‘growth as usual’,’ they added. ‘We need a new growth paradigm. We need a fresh model of economic integration.
   ‘We will pursue growth which is balanced, inclusive and sustainable, supported by innovation and a knowledge-based economy, to ensure a durable recovery that will create jobs and benefit our people.’
   The summit’s chairman, Singapore prime minister Lee Hsien Loong, explained that ‘sustainable’ growth meant working for an ‘ambitious outcome’ at Copenhagen climate talks next month.
   But a hastily convened climate discussion in Singapore among key leaders — including Obama and Chinese president Hu Jintao, representing the world’s two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases — failed to yield any breakthrough.
   If thin on specifics, the APEC declaration was a nod to Obama’s demand that US consumers must no longer bear the brunt of stoking world demand, and that Asians must start to spend and not hoard their export earnings.
   The president noted that voracious US consumerism had for decades fuelled the growth of regional economies. But when crisis struck last year, the ‘demand for Asian goods plummeted’ and the global recession deepened.
   ‘We cannot follow the same policies that led to such imbalanced growth,’ Obama said in summit remarks released by the White House, highlighting the sky-high deficits run up by the United States during the boom years.
   ‘If we do, we will continue to drift from crisis to crisis, a failed path that has already had devastating consequences for our citizens, our businesses, and our governments,’ he said.
   In one development welcomed by APEC allies, Obama said the United States was interested in exploiting a four-country Pacific trade pact as the nucleus for a massive free-trade zone covering the entire group’s 2.6 billion people.
   The APEC leaders instructed their officials to start exploratory work on the so-called Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific, although analysts warn that the giant undertaking is years if not decades from fruition.
   More immediately, the heads of government pledged to try to conclude the World Trade Organisation’s stalled Doha round of negotiations next year.
   At the Singapore meetings, president Hu played up China’s role in shoring up world growth after the crisis engulfed the United States, and vowed to ‘vigorously expand’ its domestic market.
   However, criticism that China keeps an artificial lid on its currency to gain an unfair trade edge flared anew at APEC. Obama is expected to press Hu on the exchange-rate row when the two leaders meet in Beijing next week.

The Internet global supermarket is booming because people and businesses are looking for bargains and new outlets in bad times, a new report says.
   And this great global shopping mall can only expand rapidly as mobile phone use explodes, the Chinese get involved and advertisers jump in, the OECD forecasts.
   But the e-trade revolution is being held back by hidden frontiers, ranging from concerns over privacy of personal information, language problems, delivery costs and taxation and regulation barriers.
   As the Christmas spending spree, vital to many retailers and manufacturers around the world, gets under way, the OECD also highlights other worries for consumers.
   For example, Santa Claus may never turn up with the goods, or the purchases may be defective, or payment details may be stolen.
   These are among the obstacles to increased cross-border trade, paradoxically even within the European Union, which the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development lists in a report on a conference under the heading: ‘Empowering e-consumers.’
   The report found that the financial crisis had breathed new life into electronic commerce, with sales rising in Europe, the United States and China at a time when the store-based retail sector struggles as consumers’ disposable income shrivels.
   ‘The financial and economic crisis appears to be giving a e-commerce a boost as consumers search for ways to reduce expenditures by purchasing items online,’ the OECD said, adding: ‘The savings can be substantial.’
   It cited a study showing that shoppers in Britain, Germany and France can save 17 per cent by buying electronics goods, DVDs and clothing on online trading platforms rather than in physical stores.
   In the United States online sales for 80 retailers rose an average of 11 per cent in the first quarter of the year, according to another study.
   One site, Craigslist, is forecast to report sales of $100 million this year, a 23 per cent increase from 2008. Another platform, Amazon, had net sales of 177 million dollars in the first quarter alone, up 24 per cent from the first quarter 2008.
   The OECD cites a study by the Forrester research group predicting that western European consumers will buy 123.1 billion euros’ worth of goods online by 2014, for an average annual growth rate of 9.6 per cent.
   China too has experienced a jump in online retail activity. The online auction and retail website of the country’s leading e-commerce company, Alibaba Group, reported a 131 per cent rise in transaction volume in February compared with a year earlier.
   Helping to spur electronic commerce is the growth in mobile phone use. The number of mobile phone subscribers grew at an average rate of 30 per cent a year from 1993 to 2007 in the 30 industrialised economies in the OECD.
   But the OECD warned that the future of e-commerce is not entirely secure, maintaining that its fate ‘depends for a large part on the level of confidence that consumers have in on-line shopping.’
   It noted that half the cross-border complaints and disputes filed with the European Consumer Centre Network stemmed from purchases made over the Internet.
   ‘Delivery problems and dissatisfaction with the products purchased were the leading reasons for the complaints, accounting for 75 per cent of the total,’ the OECD said.
   Customers voiced dissatisfaction with non-deliveries, misrepresentation by online retail sites and difficulties contacting merchants.
   While the Internet may have made it easier to buy products from foreign businesses, consumers have shown themselves to be reluctant to do so, according to the OECD, which cited language barriers, higher shipping costs, regulatory barriers and scams and misleading practices as key constraints.
   Last year 33 per cent of EU consumers purchased products online but only 7.0 per cent bought goods from another country, the report said.
   While many countries have e-commerce laws and regulations, such practices risk becoming outdated given the speed at which new products and services are created.
   The study found that most countries, apart from the United States, do not have specific regulations to protect the privacy of children.
   It said many online retailers ask consumers to confirm their age simply by ticking a box, with no follow-up measures to ensure that the information is accurate.
   Another area of growing concern for the sector, according to the OECD, is the use of behavioural techniques that track a consumer’s purchasing habits in order to tailor advertising to his or her interest.
   But there is little doubt about the economic impact of online advertising. A recent study cited by the OECD found that the contribution to economic activity of online advertising amounts to 300 billion dollars in the United States. The US online advertising sector directly employs more than 1.2 million people.

Citigroup Inc said on Sunday it has agreed to sell its stake in Japanese telemarketer Bellsystem24 to U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital for 93.5 billion yen ($1 billion).
   Bain has been widely expected to buy Bellsystem24 after securing exclusive negotiation rights earlier this month.
   Sources had told Reuters last week that Bain was close to finalising a roughly 100 billion yen deal for the company, marking the largest buyout by a foreign private equity firm in Japan in nearly two years.
   Bain has beaten off rivals Permira and a team of CVC Capital and Blackstone, which had also made offers in the final round of bidding for Bellsystem24.
   Citigroup put Bellsystem24 up for sale as part of a global effort to raise cash and replenish its capital. It has already raised more than $7 billion by selling other assets in Japan including a broker, a trust bank and a fund management arm.
   Citigroup said in an emailed statement that it had agreed to sell its 93.5 per cent stake in Bellsystem24 for 93.5 billion yen in cash in a tender offer to be launched by a firm owned by funds advised by Bain Capital.
   The tender offer will likely start on or before Nov. 20 and be completed on Dec. 30, Citigroup said.
   The U.S. bank said the deal was not expected to have a material impact on its net income or capital ratios.
   The sale of Bellsystem24 initially drew strong interest from a number of private equity firms including Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, which teamed up with trading house Itochu Corp before dropping out of the race.

Banglalink has been nominated as a finalist in ‘Best Mobile Enterprise Application Product or Service Category for the Asia Mobile Awards 2009’ organised by the GSMA, said a press release.
   The award is given by the apex body of GSM operators of the world, the GSM Association.
   The Asia Mobile Awards are designed to highlight and reward the change-driving products, services, innovation and initiatives from across the mobile eco-system that serves the diverse Asian marketplace.
   ‘Banglalink jigyasha service was launched in last year. ‘Krishi Jigyasha’ service was introduced in December, 2008 followed by ‘babsha jigyasha’ in August, 2009. The call centre-based services provide suggestions and answers relating to agriculture and business.
   The winners of the GSMA’s Asia Mobile Awards 2009 will be presented on Wednesday at the Mobile Asia Congress in Hong Kong.

Prime Bank Ltd opened its 76th branch in Ishwardi recently.
   Director of Prime Bank Mohammad Aminul Haque inaugurated the branch as chief guest, said a news release.
   Managing director of the bank M Ehsanul Haque presided over the opening ceremony. Deputy managing director M Reazul Karim, senior executive vice-president Md Monawar Hossain, SEVP and company secretary AFM Asaduzzaman and vice-president Md Omar Kabir were present on the occasion. Local businessmen and elites were also present in the ceremony.

Sonali Bank Limited has started offering Western Union money transfer services in its 200 branches across the country.
   The service allows Sonali Bank consumers to easily access the Western Union® Money TransferSM service across the country, said a news release.
   Sonali Bank chief executive officer and managing director SA Chowdhury and Western Union regional vice-president for South Asia and South East Asia Ratheesh Kumar inaugurated the service at a ceremony in Dhaka recently.
   On the occasion, SA Chowdhury said, ‘This service will particularly help our consumers who have constantly sought a fast and efficient way to receive money from their loved ones abroad. With the convenience of the Western Union Money Transfer service being offered at Sonali bank branches, it would be easier for non-resident Bangladeshis to send home their remittances now.’