Pressmediaofindia
Related Articles
10-08-2024
DHAKA/ NEW DELHI: Indian companies are slowly resuming normal operations in neighboring Bangladesh following disruption linked to deadly anti-government protests that forced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and flee to India.
Here are some details of what Indian companies have said about their activities in Bangladesh, where many products made by India-based firms are household names:
LIC of Bangladesh partially resumed, opens new tab operations in the country from Aug. 8, when Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus took charge of Bangladesh’s caretaker government, after closing, opens new tab its offices for three days.
It has 13 offices in the country and sold nearly 4,500 policies in the financial year ended March 2024.
The unit of the Indian government-backed LIC, however, said the situation had “still not reached the stage of normalcy” and “may continue to hamper the operations”.
The Indian garment maker, which supplies to global brands including GAP, Macy’s and Ralph Lauren, said, opens new tab its factories resumed operations on Aug. 7 with “normal 97%+” staff attendance, after two days of a curfew-mandated shutdown.
It said it was operating 70% of its facilities at full capacity and would resume operations at the rest when it felt more confident about the security of its workers in certain parts of Bangladesh.
It has four plants, opens new tab in the capital, Dhaka, and Gazipur where it manufactures hoodies, tracksuit pants and other items.
MARICO, opens new tab
The consumer goods maker, which sells its Parachute brand of hair oil and Saffola cooking oil in Bangladesh, said, opens new tab on Aug. 7 a majority of its retail sales force and distributors had resumed their work. It expected manufacturing to follow suit soon.
Marico, however, said it remained watchful of the situation and was prioritizing the safety of its employees, factory workers and distributors.
The company earned 44% of its international revenues of 25.10 billion Indian rupees ($299 million) from, opens new tab Bangladesh in the fiscal year ended March 2024, and has a distribution network, opens new tab of more than 770,000 outlets in the country.
The night before long-time leader Sheikh Hasina abruptly fled Bangladesh amid deadly protests, her army chief held a meeting with his generals and decided that troops would not open fire on civilians to enforce a curfew, two serving army officers with knowledge of the discussions told media.
Gen. Waker-Uz-Zaman then reached out to Hasina’s office, conveying to the prime minister that his soldiers would be unable to implement the lockdown she had called for, according to an Indian official briefed on the matter.
Improving law and order in Bangladesh is a priority for the new caretaker government, the adviser to the interior ministry said on Friday, as the battered nation limps back to normality after Sheikh Hasina resigned as prime minister and fled.
Hasina flew to neighboring India on Monday after weeks of deadly protests. An interim government, led by Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus, was sworn in on Thursday with the aim of holding elections.
Retired Brig. Gen. M. Sakhawat Hossain told media the interim government will first try to improve law and order. (Int’l News Desk)
