Bangladesh's Corporate World

Intertek entered into an exclusive services appointment and strategic partnership with BEXIMCO Group. Intertek is a leading total quality assurance provider to industries worldwide and Beximco is a diversified private sector group in Bangladesh across a wide range of industries, and one of South Asia's largest vertically integrated textile and garment companies. BEXIMCO Group, based in Dhaka, has recently set up a new PPE Industrial Park, close to their company headquarters, having exported 6.5 million PPE gowns to the USA, with a vision to become one of the major players in PPE manufacturing globally. The spread of COVID-19 has seen the demand for PPE rise significantly and as disease continues to spread throughout the globe, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has described, the chronic, global shortage of PPE as “one of the most urgent threats to our collective ability to save lives.” South Asia and Bangladesh is now emerging as the new hotspot for PPE manufacturing and have ram...

Bangladesh Supermarket Owners’ Association, otherwise known as BSOA requested NBR for implementing a uniform VAT rate for all retail super shops of the country. This request is made so that they can continue the business in full pace. The government applies a 4% VAT on sales of various supermarkets including Agora, Shwapno and Meena Bazar while authorities imposed a package VAT system to general shops according to their sizes and locations. Bangladesh Supermarket Owners’ Association prefers paying VAT on per square feet rate. Customers do not like to pay 4% VAT on sales because general shops pay a flat VAT rate. The BSOA demanded the government either withdraws 4% VAT or implement package VAT system. It says in its statement that otherwise this discrimination will gradually destroy this sector. In comparison with similar markets, in Indonesia, there are 14000 stores of only two chain supermarkets and 3000 are in India. Even, in Sri Lanka, there are 1000 stores while Bangladesh h...