The Institute of Chartered Secretaries of Bangladesh (ICSB) today awarded 41 local companies for their outstanding corporate governance practices, particularly in regard to ensuring transparency and accountability in overall management.

With the winners from 14 business categories placing in either the gold, silver or bronze ranking, the 11th ICSB National Award for Corporate Governance Excellence, 2023 was held at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka in the capital.

Finance and Commerce Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed handed over the trophies at the event, which was themed as "Promoting Governing Excellence".

Eastern Bank PLC won the gold trophy in the general banking category while BRAC Bank PLC secured silver and City Bank PLC took home bronze.

However, no company in the Islamic banking category was considered for an award this year.

IDLC Finance PLC won the gold in the non-banking financial institution category while IPDC Finance PLC bagged a silver and DBH Finance PLC received bronze.

In the general insurance category, City Insurance PLC claimed the gold trophy while Green Delta Insurance PLC snagged silver and Sena Insurance PLC got bronze.

And although not one company qualified for gold in the pharmaceutical and chemical category, Pragati Life Insurance Limited bagged the silver award and National Life Insurance PLC received the bronze.

Square Pharmaceuticals PLC took the top honour in the pharmaceutical and chemical category while The IBN SINA Pharmaceutical Industry PLC walked away with the silver. The ACME Laboratories Ltd and Navana Pharmaceuticals PLC were joint winners of the bronze rank.

In the textile and RMG category, Paramount Textile PLC snatched the gold and Matin Spinning Mills PLC got silver while Square Textiles PLC and Shasha Denims Ltd tied for bronze.

Among companies of the food and allied category, Unilever Consumer Care Ltd achieved the gold rank, Olympic Industries Ltd reached the silver and Agricultural Marketing Company Ltd placed as bronze.

IT Consultants PLC won the gold award in the information and communication technology category, with ADN Telecom Limited taking silver and BDCOM Online Ltd and Aamra Technologies Ltd sharing bronze.

In the engineering category, Walton Hi-Tech Industries PLC was the gold winner, Singer Bangladesh Limited was the silver winner and BSRM Steels Ltd won bronze.

In the manufacturing category, LafargeHolcim Bangladesh Ltd and RAK Ceramics (Bangladesh) Ltd were announced as the gold and silver winners respectively while Index Agro Industries Limited and Marico Bangladesh Limited jointly claimed the bronze award.

In the fuel and power category, United Power Generation and Distribution Company Ltd secured gold, MJL Bangladesh PLC got silver and Linde Bangladesh Ltd received bronze.

Unique Hotel and Resorts PLC won the top honour in the services category while Eastern Housing Limited bagged silver and no one won bronze.

In the telecommunications category, Grameenphone got the gold, Robi Axiata PLC received silver and Bangladesh Submarine Cables PLC took bronze.

Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Khondoker Rashed Maqsood, Finance Secretary Md Khairuzzaman Mozumder, Commerce Secretary Md Selim Uddin, and National Board of Revenue Chairman Md Abdur Rahman Khan were present as the special guests.

ICSB Senior Vice-President M Nurul Alam, who is also chairman of its corporate governance committee, presided over the programme.