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PRAN-RFL Group
Bandladeshi conglomerate From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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PRAN-RFL Group (Bengali: প্রাণ-আরএফএল গ্রুপ) is a Bangladeshi conglomerate,[3] founded in 1981 by Amjad Khan Chowdhury. It is one of the largest conglomerates in Bangladesh[4] Pran-RFL Group is headquartered in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and employs over 1,00,000 people worldwide making it the largest employer brand in the country. The group operates under several subsidiaries, including Pran Foods, RFL Plastics, Pran-RFL Healthcare, and many others.[5]
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Pran Foods is the flagship company of the group and RFL is the subsidiary company mostly consisting of plastic and steel products.
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History
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PRAN (Programme for Rural Advancement Nationally)[6] was established in 1981 by retired Major General Amjad Khan Chowdhury and has become one of the largest food and beverage brands in Bangladesh.[7][8] PRAN pioneered agribusiness in Bangladesh by providing farmers with guaranteed prices.[9] PRAN Foods, a subsidiary of the PRAN-RFL Group,[10] produces a number of agricultural products under the PRAN banner. PRAN established a subsidiary company in UAE in 2003.[11]
In 2008, the company announced plans to open a production facility in Tripura, India, after the Indian government lifted the ban on direct investment from Bangladesh in 2007.[12] The PRAN group's exports had reached 10 billion taka by 2016, with the biggest markets for the company in India, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Malaysia, and Oman.[13] The same year the revenue for PRAN exceeded US$500 million.[14] PRAN started exporting potatoes in March 2016.[15]
In April 2016, PRAN started to export cassava and the first shipment, worth US$3 million, was sent to New Zealand.[16] PRAN has 80 thousand direct employees and 200 thousand indirect employees.[17] PRAN exports to over 118 countries.[18]
PRAN started exporting through river route to India from Bangladesh in March 2021.[19]
Pran-RFL Group has several joint ventures with international companies, such as PepsiCo, Danone, and Nestlé.
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Businesses
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PRAN-RFL Group contains two Groups, called PRAN-Group & RFL-Group.
Businesses operating under these groups contains several registered companies/businesses. Below are some of them-[20]
Duranta
Duranta a part of the group makes bicycles for the international and domestic market. They launched the countries first ebike.[28] The venture started in 2015.[29]
Proton
Proton Mobile is the brand for the group's manufactured and marketed feature phones and smartphones.[30]
Othoba
Othoba is the companies e-commerce expansion offering discounted pricing on live animal and goods with home delivery or pickup option.[31][32]
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Criticism
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The company is accused of land grabbing, revenue evasion, fake tender of 305 crore Taka in the name of Rangpur Metal Industries and selling substandard consumer goods.[33][34] There are also allegations of digital corruption and looting of thousands of crores of taka with the illegal assistance of officials from the Public Works Department.[35][36] In 2019, a Bangladesh court ordered the arrest of the company's managing director after BSTI tests found excess ash in turmeric powder produced by Pran Agro Limited.[37] The Bangladesh High Court issued a rule asking why the family of an employee of the company should not be compensated for the death of the employee in 2018.[38] The Pran-RFL company of Alipur, Habiganj, has been accused of dumping banned and harmful contaminated waste into the Sutang River, the only river in Lakhai Upazila of Habiganj district, for a long time.[39] In July 2025, the local administration seized 2,500 liters of adulterated milk from the Pran Company's hub center in Chatmohar Upazila of Pabna, and a mobile court sentenced three Pran officials to six months in prison each for storing and supplying adulterated milk.[40] In front of the National Press Club, some employees of PRAN-RFL accused the company of religiously hateful activities against Muslim employees. These are - 1. Holding online meetings during prayer times. If they could not attend the meetings, they would be taken to a separate phone conference with senior officials, abused in foul language, and referred to as a camp. 2. Making employees work full duty despite the holidays of Shab-e-Qadr and Shab-e-Barat. 3. Increasing the pressure of extra work during the month of Ramadan. 4. Holding meetings online on Google Meet during Tarawih prayers, indirectly preventing everyone from praying. 5. Not giving any time separately for Iftar. 6. Making many excuses and harassing them about Eid ul Fitr and Eid ul Azha holidays. One victim said that PRAN-RFL Group provides special benefits to a definite community in getting jobs and while working. When these were protested, the protesters used to be quickly fired.[41]
A group of 101 Bangladeshi Islamic scholars in Bangladesh called for a boycott of Pran RFL products, accusing it of funding Ahmadis, and claiming it as anti-Islamic.[42] In 2021, International Majlis-e Tahaffuz-e-Khatm-e Nobuwat Bangladesh called for a boycott of PRAN-RFL and all their products at all levels, personal, social, and state.[43]
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References
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