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Indian President Pranab Mukherjee has invited Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to stay at Rashtrapati Bhavan during her visit to New Delhi next month. “It’s exceptional because no head of government stays at Rashtrapati Bhavan,” Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Harsh Vardhan Shringla has said.. He was speaking with journalists after a discussion with Bangladesh’s foreign secretary at the foreign ministry in Dhaka on the preparations for Sheikh Hasina’s visit in April on which, the envoy said, India attaches the “highest importance”. – source bdnews24.com  ....

Published at: 2017-03-14 00:00:05

US chipmaker Intel is taking a big bet on driverless cars with a $15.3 billion takeover of specialist Mobileye. Intel will pay $63.54 a share in cash for the Israeli company, which develops "autonomous driving" systems. Mobileye and Intel are already working together, along with German carmaker BMW, to put 40 test vehicles on the road in the second half of this year. Intel expects the driverless market to be worth as much as $70 billion by 2030. Jerusalem-based Mobileye has contracts with 27 car makers. It also controls about two thirds of the market for software that runs automatic emergency braking and semi-autonomous cruise control systems already fitted to cars and trucks. Technology companies are racing to launch driverless cars. Earlier this month, Nissan test drove a converted Leaf vehicle and said it hoped to make the cars available by 2020. Google has also done extensive development of driverless cars. Announcing the deal, Intel said that as cars "progress from assisted driving to fully autonomous, they are increasingly becoming data centres on wheels". The chipmaker reckons that by 2020 driverless cars will generate 4,000 GB, or 4 terabytes, of data a day that can be mined for information. Betsy Van Hees, analyst at Loop Capital Markets, said Intel had very little presence in the automotive market, "so this is a tremendous opportunity for them to get into a market that has significant growth opportunities". Timothy Carone, a Notre Dame University academic, said: "Major players are finding ways finding ways to position themselves for a change as seminal as the personal computer revolution." Shares in Intel fell 2.2 per cent to $35.10 in New York. Mobileye was founded in 1999 to develop "vision-based systems to improve on-road safety and reduce collisions". The company, along with Intel's automated driving group, will be based in Israel and led by Amnon Shashua, Mobileye's co-founder, chairman and chief technology officer. In its results for last year, Mobileye said revenue more than tripled to $358m, while pre-tax profit jumped from $79.7 million to $125.4 million.....

Published at: 2017-03-14 00:00:04

Rice import has been increasing for last two weeks amid its persisting higher price in the domestic market and decline in prices in neighbouring India, said sector insiders. Even after paying 25 per cent customs duty, private importers are making profits by importing two specific rice varieties from India, they added. The food ministry data showed that private rice millers so far brought over 54,000 tonnes of rice in the current financial year (FY'17) of which 14,000 tonnes entered just in last 15 days. The rate of rice import was 160-172 tonnes a day earlier which increased to 900-1,000 tonnes in March, said a food ministry official. L/C (letter of credit) has been opened to bring another 43,000 tonnes of rice, he added.    Rajib Kumar, a Dinajpur-based importer, told the FE that Brri dhan-28 is now selling at Tk 43-43.5 a kilogram at local mill gates. He said import cost (including 25 per cent customs duty) of the same variety, known as Ratna in West Bengal, India ranges between Tk 41 and Tk 42 a kg. He said the difference between the prices in India and Bangladesh is encouraging imports. Lalit Saha, another importer, said prices of Swarna and Ratna declined to some extent in India in February last. He said finer Swarna was selling at Tk 36-36.5 a kg at mill gates in Bangladesh, but its import cost was Tk 34.0-Tk 34.5. However, he informed the FE that most of the L/Cs have been opened between February and the first week of March when prices of Swarna and Brridhan-28 were US$ 343- 360 a tonne in India. The government imposed 25 per cent customs duty at the very beginning in FY'17 following paddy price debacle during harvesting periods which caused huge losses to the farmers. After imposition of import duty, rice prices in Bangladesh started rising. The price hike of different varieties of rice ranged between 7 per cent and 23 per cent in last seven months, according to Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB). Coarse rice Swarna is now selling at Tk 37-Tk 40 while medium quality Brridhan 28 and Paijam at Tk 45-Tk 48 and finer variety Miniket, Jeerashail and Najirshail at Tk 48-Tk 58 a kg in the country. Md Hazrat Ali, a Nilphamari-based trader, said import of Brridhan-28 will continue until the beginning of local Boro harvesting from next month.      The mills face a supply shortage of Brridhan-28, the most-consumed rice variety which grows during the Boro season. He also pointed out that many big stockists who have a huge stock of Swarna paddy are now making hefty profits.      According to Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), Brridhan-28 accounts for nearly 44 per cent while Swarna accounts for over 24 per cent of the country's total rice output. Secretary of Bangladesh Auto Major Husking Mill Owners Association K M Layek Ali said paddy prices were much higher from last Aman season which benefited the farmers. The prices of rice will come down to some extent from May with starting of the harvesting season, he said, adding that the existing customs duty should remain in force to protect the local rice industry. The government should strengthen monitoring so that no one can bring animal food in the name of rice for human consumption, he said. The government has now a stock of nearly 0.64 million tonnes of rice which was 1.06 million tonnes in the corresponding period last year. Bangladesh produced over 34.57 million tonnes of rice in FY'16 against a demand for 31.0 million tonnes, according to BBS and Directorate General of Food (DGoF). tonmoy.wardad@gmail.com....

Published at: 2017-03-13 00:00:05

CHITTAGONG, Mar 12: The Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) will introduce e-tendering this month to ensure accountability, transparency and avoid corruption and muscle-flexing in the tender schedules. CDA officials said the authority will float five tenders for different development projects this month through e-tendering. The projects include construction of Bakalia Access Road, Saltgola Commercial Building, Dewanhat Apartment Complex, CDA Square at Sholashahar Rail Gate-2 and CDA Shishukanon School building. Online tendering started in Bangladesh back in 2004 with the support of the World Bank. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the e-government procurement web portal in June 2011. CDA Executive Engineer and project director of the Bakolia Access Road Construction Project Ahmed Moinuddin said all kinds of tendering will be held by e-gp (e-government procurement) from now onward. And the CDA is entering the system this month. Chittagong District Administration office said a letter was sent from the PMO last year instructing all government departments to bring all the procurement activities under e-tendering. Introduction of this system was mandatory from January 2017. Following the directives from the PMO, different ministries and departments have introduced the e-tendering system as well. Sources said that a good number of killings and attacks on the intending bidders took place at many places while dropping the papers and documents in the government offices. The goons even used weapons to snatch away the tender documents. Digitalisation of tenders has earned wide support in government procurement system as the bidders can compete in the tender through e-tendering from anywhere in the country or from abroad. The government has also issued office order to introduce en-tendering in all government offices and service agencies under the local government. CDA Chairman Abdus Salam said e-tendering is the best system for any kind of development and procurement activities in the government offices. It reduces corruption, nepotism, ensures accountability and transparency and avoids muscle flexing by a section of non-professional bidders. "We want that the experienced contractors take part in the bidding process to ensure high quality of work. He however, claimed that there was no incident of muscle flexing in the tenders of the CDA. Irregularities, if any, will be removed for ever after e-tendering, he said. pankajdastider@gmail.com....

Published at: 2017-03-13 00:00:05

Bangladesh's transfer-pricing cell under the revenue authority has partnered international economic forum OECD to check alleged profit shifting by the multinational companies (MNCs). The cell of the National Board of Revenue (NBR) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to work together for next two-three years in the process of spearheading the combat against such siphoning of funds. "The OECD experts will exchange their knowledge and impart training to our transfer-pricing officials (TPO)," said a senior tax official. The first training programme for TPO by the OECD experts may be held on March 27, he added. The initiative has been taken to improve the capacity of Bangladesh to counter cross-border tax avoidance and collect appropriate amounts of taxes from the MNCs conducting cross-border transactions. Diego Gonzalez, tax and development adviser of the OECD, is the contact point of the joint initiative on OECD part while first secretary Shabbir Ahmed is from Bangladesh side. Parliament passed the TP law in 2012 that came into force in 2014. But the law has yet to prove its worth. The tax authority could not start the auditing of tax returns of the MNCs in the last three years due to inadequate capacity and skill on the new concept. Last year, the NBR reconstituted the transfer-pricing cell by forming a resource pool comprising tax officials from different tax offices. The revenue board trained them to work for detection of cross-border financial transactions, Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) by the MNCs in their respective tax zones. Although the transfer-pricing cell, resource pool and TPO for implementation of the TP law are there, the audit of tax returns of MNCs has yet to gain momentum. The NBR has collected Statement of International Transaction (SIT) of the multinational companies operating in Bangladesh from tax offices across the country as an initial data to scrutinize transfer pricing. Tax officials said initially the auditing by the TPC will proceed under a go-slow policy as both taxmen and the MNCs need some time to acclimatise with implications of the law. Talking to the FE, taxation subcommittee member of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) Adeeb H Khan termed the TP law implementation smooth as MNCs didn't yet face any "harassment" after enforcement of the law. "The government kept its commitment by framing the TP law and following the related process," he said. The government introduced the TP law in 2014 although it was passed by parliament in 2012. The law empowers the tax authority to scrutinise international financial transactions by the taxpayers and oblige them to keep record in a prescribed form to check profit shifting through the conduit of transfer-mispricing mechanism. Allegations are rife that high rate of corporate tax in the country discourages many MNCs from showing the right amounts of profit they make annually. They shift their profits to their companies or sister concerns located in the countries where tax rates are comparatively low. Reports based on findings by international watchdogs say that huge amounts of funds flow out of Bangladesh annually for a number of reasons that include lax execution of the law and high accumulation of resources with certain individuals or businesses. Earlier, the secretary-general of the OECD, in a letter to Finance Minister AMA Muhith, had formally invited Bangladesh to be enlisted as a BEPS (base erosion and profit shifting) associate. Getting associated with the OECD oversight mechanism would enable Bangladesh to effectively check the tax evasion by way of interlinking and sharing information with its 35 member-countries, officials said. BEPS refers to tax-planning strategies that exploit gaps and mismatches in tax rules to artificially shift profits to low-or no-tax locations where there is little or no economic activity. To be an associate of the arrangement, Bangladesh will have to agree on at least four standards of comprehensive BEPS package. It will have to commit to implementing those for being enlisted as associate member of the BEPS project of OECD, they said. The country will have to provide full cooperation on exchange of information and on policymaking decision under the BEPS project, the officials said. The annual associate-membership fee is 20,000 Euros. In the letter, the OECD secretary-general requested the Bangladesh government to respond as to whether the country was interested to be a BEPS-project associate. However, officials concerned said the government is yet to respond positively to the offer. BEPS tactics is allegedly used by MNCs to gain competitive advantage over enterprises that operate at a domestic level. Experts said when taxpayers see multinational corporations legally avoiding income tax, it undermines voluntary compliance by all taxpayers. doulot_akter@yahoo.com....

Published at: 2017-03-13 00:00:05