Singer Bangladesh Limited (Nurjahan Road Branch)

The presence of SINGER in Bangladesh dates back to the British colonial era when the country was a part of the Indian subcontinent. The first operation of Singer began in 1905. Later, in 1920, two shops were set up in Dhaka and Chittagong. After the partition of the sub-continent in 1947, two separate states emerged. Bangladesh became a part of Pakistan and formed its eastern wing. SINGER in East Pakistan operated as a branch of SINGER Pakistan and the products used to come from Western Pakistan. At the initial stage, marketing operation was carried out through only 10 shops, which increased to 43 by the late 1960s. After the emergence of Bangladesh on December 16, 1971, the East Pakistan Branch Office was elevated to a Country Office and the Sewing Machines were made available from different Singer overseas sources. The number of shops was squeezed to only 23 because of the low volume of business. A change in the investment policy in 1979 created new business opportunities and SINGER registered as an operating company, with 80% of the share held by Singer Sewing Machine Company (SSMC), USA, and 20% by local shareholders. In 1983 the company was listed with Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and offered 20% of its total capitalization- 2,565 ordinary shares of Taka 100 each. In 2001, it was also listed with the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE).