Earnings by the National Board of Revenue (NBR) grew by 17.2 percent in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, thanks to a strong drive to collect revenues from both the public and private sectors.

The tax administrator will have to collect Tk 30,000 crore in the next three months to meet the target for the entire fiscal year.

An NBR official said they hope to earn more than the required amount in the next three months to reach the goal.

He also said they collected Tk 500 crore more than the target in the first nine months.

According to NBR statistics, revenue earnings in the July-March period were Tk 62,261 crore against a target of Tk 61,857 crore.

The NBR official said they had a collection target of Tk 91,870 crore for the entire year.

But the "resource committee" of the finance ministry at a recent meeting chaired by Finance Minister AMA Muhith decided to reset the target in the revised budget.

The target for the entire year may be increased by Tk 500 crore-Tk 1,000 crore, said the official, asking not to be named.

The successes of the current year may encourage the NBR to set the next year's target at Tk 1,12,000 crore, 22 percent more than this year's estimated earnings.

In the next three months, revenue worth Tk 3,400 crore will come from Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation alone, he said.

Besides, there is a possibility of earning Tk 742 crore as SIM (subscriber identity module) tax from the mobile operators, the NBR official added.

He also said Alternative Dispute Resolution has been introduced recently to fast-track resolution of tax-related cases out of court, which will spin off revenue of another Tk 100 crore.

He said the NBR has intensified its tax collection drives and is not sparing even the public sector companies.

The official said stern action has been taken against state-owned mobile phone company Teletalk, compelling the operator to commit to pay its dues every month.

The tax administrator also froze the account of the state-run mobile operator as it failed to pay dues in time, said the official.

Besides, the NBR has formed two taskforces to speed up revenue collection. The taskforces have detected tax evasions by a good number of big companies. Revenue worth around Tk 2,000 crore may be realised from them, the official said.

He said, due to the steps they achieved big successes in realising income tax and local-level value added tax.

In the first nine months, growth in income tax was 25 percent and VAT at the local level increased by 20 percent. However, revenue earnings rose by only 10 percent at the import level.

The official said, both the government and the Bangladesh Bank have taken various steps to discourage import of unnecessary goods to ease pressure on the foreign currency reserve. As a result, growth in revenue earnings at the import level is somewhat lower, he added.

The official said the NBR may set an ambitious target in the next fiscal year also. Already the resource committee meeting has made a projection of revenue target for the next year.

The NBR official said the target may be increased by 22 percent over the current fiscal year's earnings and set at Tk 1,12,000 crore.

He said a new VAT law is likely to be introduced in the next fiscal year, and so they are hopeful of meeting the next year's target also.

The Daily Star/Bangladesh/ 30th April 2012

Engr. Mustafa Anwar, vice chairman of Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited, is seen among the newly recruited assistant officers of the Bank in Dhaka on Sunday.

Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd. (IBBL) gave orientation to its 96 newly-recruited assistant officers on Sunday.

The orientation was organised for the recruits at Mohammad Yunus Auditorium of Islami Bank Tower.

Engr. Mustafa Anwar, vice chairman of the Bank was present as Chief Guest.

Managing director Mohammad Abdul Mannan presided over the function.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 29th April 2012

Participants of a workshop of the ‘HSBC Young Entrepreneur Challenge (YEC)’ pose for photograph.

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) Li-mited has organised a workshop on ‘En-hancing Communications and Presentation Skills’ for six finalist teams of the ‘HSBC Young Ent-repreneur Challenge (YEC)’.

HSBC YEC, launched for the sixth time in Bangladesh, is an annual, regional competition, said a press release.

Sharmin Rahman, Creative Director of Asiatic JWT took an interactive session with the students.

Adiya Narayan Singh Deo, Head of Human Resources, and Talukdar Noman Anwar, Head of Marketing, HSBC Bangladesh also spoke.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 29th April 2012

Agrani Bank Limited has donated 20 computers to the Engineers Institution, Bangladesh (IEB).

Chairman of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartipakkha (RAJUK) and IEB President Eng M Nurul Huda distributed those to IEB's different centres at a function on Monday, said an IEB release.

IEB general secretary and Agrani Bank director Eng Abdus Sabur, IEB vice-president Eng M Habibur Rahman, Eng Mezbaur Rahman, Eng M Kabir Ahmed Bhuiyan, assistant general secretary (HRD) Eng M Shahadat Hossain Shiblu were present.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 29th April 2012

Pubali Bank Ltd has recently been awarded with “Business Championship Award-2011 by Western Union for increasing transactions and extending better customer service.

Managing Director of Pubali Bank Helal Ahmed Chowdhury received the award from Hikmet Ersek, chief executive officer of Western Union.

The awarding was made at a function Western Union Asia Pacific Agent Summit-2012 held in Bali, Indonesia.
Stewart Stockdale, EVP, Global Consumer Financial Services, Drina Yue, SVP, Managing Director, APAC Region were present on the occasion.

Additional managing director of Pubali Bank Ltd. M.A Halim Chowdhury was also present.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 29th April 2012