Dragon Group is a group of garment factories and other companies in Bangladesh. The group produces mainly for the international market and exports to more than 30 countries, especially the United States and Canada.^[5] Its subsidiary Dragon Sweater employs more than few thousand workers and in 2018 was the most traded stock on the Dhaka Stock Exchange.^[6][7]

Organisation

Mostafa Golam Quddus, a former president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), is the group's chairman and his son Mostafa Quamrus Sobhan is the Managing Director.^[8]

History

Cheung Hing Sweater was the first Dragon Group sweater factory to be established. It was founded in the 1980s with 50 Chinese technicians, about 300 machines and about 600 employees.

In 2008, 21 directors of Rupali Insurance were fined by the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) for violation of securities law in connection with the company's financial statements for the 2006 business year.^[9] In 2015, an inspection of Garment factories including Dragon Sweater found major electrical and structural flaws. Those included cables directly laid on floors without proper safety, insufficient exit capacity through exit doors and the absence of sprinklers.^[10]

Dragon Sweater and Spinning's IPO was approved in December 2015,^[11] and since the first quarter of 2016 it is listed at the Dhaka and Chittagong Stock Exchanges. A special audit by the BSEC later found that more than half of the money collected in this initial offering had been spent in violation of securities rules,^[12] for which the company was fined.^[13]

In 2018, the BSEC found that Dragon Sweater had violated securities rules for 2016 and 2017.^[14] Later that year, trading of Dragon Sweater stocks was restricted due to abnormal price hikes.^[15] The restrictions were lifted after 24 days, with the BSEC saying corporate disclosure and other factors had improved.^[16]

In 2019, Mostafa Qamrus Sobhan filed a petition asking for a six-months ban on activities of Nirapon, an alliance formed by international clothing companies to oversee building inspection on the lines of the Bangladesh Accord, at the Bangladesh High Court.^[17] According to the petition's lawyer, the aim was to include Nirapon under the common platform of the RMG Sustainability Council.^[18] With the ban on activities still active, Nirapon left Bangladesh in 2020, laying off most of its staff, and said it would continue its activities from North America.^[19]

In February 2020, the central bank of Bangladesh found that Janata Bank had rescheduled Dragon Group loans with collateral payment, which was done as per banking regulations.^[20]

Like other textile factories in Bangladesh, Dragon Group was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.^[21] However, by August, Dragon Sweater factories were again "fully booked until the end of September".^[22] Between March and May of that year, Dragon Sweater laid off around 500 of its workers. Many of those dismissed had earlier protested for the payment of a month's due wage. Organised by the Bangladesh Garment Workers Trade Union Center, they continued to protest, leading to the signing of an agreement with Dragon Group to pay part of the due wages by November 7. The Group then broke that deal.^[23] The dispute was finally settled after an intervention by Labour Minister Monnujan Sufian in December.^[24]

Dragon Group's orders were up by 20 percent in 2022.^[25]

References