Francois de Maricourt, centre, chief executive of HSBC Bangladesh, speaks at a press conference at Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka yesterday. Bhuvnesh Khanna, country head of commercial banking of HSBC Bangladesh, left, and Talukder Noman Anwar, head of communications, are also seen.

HSBC Bangladesh is set to honour stellar exporters for their contribution to the country's sustainable economic growth.

As in the past five years, the HSBC Export Excellence Awards will be given out in four categories: garments and textiles; enterprises in export processing zones; traditional and emerging sectors; and small and medium enterprises.

The international trade bank has divided garment and textiles exporters into two categories as they account for the majority of the country's exports.

Garment exporters with annual export turnover of $50 million or more are in Group A, and those below are in Group B. Companies in the export processing zones will be awarded under a separate category.

The non-garment or textiles companies with annual export turnover of $5 million or more will be awarded under the traditional and emerging sectors category.

The SME category is for the non-RMG or textiles companies with annual export turnover below $5 million.

Besides, starting from this year, the jury will have the option to announce more than one winner from the categories as Special Achievement Award to encourage exporters with exceptional achievement.

Francois de Maricourt, chief executive of HSBC Bangladesh, announced the awards at a press conference at the capital's Sonargaon Hotel.

He said HSBC has 150 years of experience in facilitating global trade and this enables the bank to help businesses thrive and connect to opportunities the world over.

“We are pleased to provide a platform for Bangladeshi exporters to showcase their capabilities. Our efforts in promoting excellence in this field will continue.”

Bhuvnesh Khanna, country head of commercial banking of HSBC Bangladesh, said the excellence of entrepreneurs of Bangladesh is often best displayed by exporters.

They make Bangladesh more international, he said, adding that the award ceremony is a way of recognising their contribution and showcasing their excellence.

Exporters will have to fill in a form and submit it to Bangladesh Brand Forum, one of the strategic partners of the initiative, by September 17, said Talukder Noman Anwar, head of communications at HSBC Bangladesh.

The exporters are not required to be a client of HSBC to be eligible for the awards, which will take place in November.

Past winners include: DBL Group, Epyllion Textiles, Pacific Jeans Group, Picard Bangladesh, AgroKagri Commodities, Uniglory Cycle Industries, Zaber & Zubair Fabrics, Urmi Group, Pran Group, Janata Jute Mills, Bay Footwear, Square Textiles, Interfab Shirt Manufacturing, Apex Adelchi Footwear and Graphic People.

The Prothom Alo and The Daily Star are also strategic partners of the initiative.

HSBC is the only international bank in Bangladesh to have presence in all of the eight export processing zones expediting exports. It helped local exporters ship products to 120 countries in 2013 and 2014.

Export is a key driver of economic growth for Bangladesh and accounts for about 20 percent of the gross domestic product. Exports exceeded $31.2 billion last fiscal year.