Industrial defaulted loan decreased by 29.45 per cent in October-December of the current financial year 2013-2014 compared with that of the previous quarter when the amount rose by 2.93 per cent. BB officials told New Age on Sunday that the majority number of banks in the last one-and-a-half months had irrespectively rescheduled their defaulted loan by using the central bank relaxed rescheduling policy for unrest-hit business which ultimately declined the defaulted loan in the industrial sector.
The central bank has already faced huge criticism from different corners as it approved rescheduling the defaulted loan of the banks on wholesale basis, they said.
Some banks rescheduled some of their defaulted loan which were not actually hit by the political unrest, they said.
According to the latest BB data, the defaulted loan in the industrial sector decreased to Tk 11,293.34 crore as of December 31, 2013 from Tk 16,008.46 crore as of September 30, 2013. The industrial defaulted loan was Tk 15,553.05 crore as of June 30, 2013.
Under the circumstances, the defaulted loan in the industrial sector declined by 7.29 per cent to Tk 11,293.34 crore in the first half of the FY14 from Tk 10,525.94 crore during the same period of the FY13.
The BB relaxed rescheduling policy for all kinds of loan of the businesses on December 23, 2013 which had suffered losses due to the political unrest for the next six months.
As per the central bank guideline, the banks will be able to receive relaxed down payment to reschedule the classified loan on the basis of the bankers-customers relationship.
Against the backdrop, a number of banks rescheduled their defaulted loan without taking any down payment from their clients, the BB official said.
Besides, the banks extended the central bank’s opportunity to other clients who were actually not hit by the political unrest, he said.
The BB also approved the wholesale rescheduling made by the scheduled banks, he said.
Under the circumstances, the overall defaulted loan will also decline at the end of the FY14, he said.
The BB data, however, showed that the overdue loan in the industrial sector had increased by 60.71 per cent in the first six months of the FY14 compared with that of a rise in 14.18 per cent in the corresponding period of the FY12.
The overdue loan is usually considered as early position of the defaulted loan.
The overdue loan in the industrial sector stood at Tk 23,559.21 crore in the first half of the FY14 against Tk 14,659.75 crore during the same period of the FY13. The industrial overdue loan was Tk 12,760.61 crore in the first half of the FY12.
Another BB official said that the businesspeople had failed to repay their banks’ loan in the first half of the FY14 due to the sluggish business amid political unrest.
The defaulted loan in the industrial sector will increase heavily if the banks fail to recover the overdue loan.
The BB data showed that the industrial loan disbursement had increased by 12.26 per cent in July-December of the FY14 compared with that of a rise in 32.16 per cent in the same period of the FY13.
The industrial loan disbursement stood at Tk 80,355.75 crore in the first half of the FY14 against Tk 71,582.99 crore in the same period of the FY13.
The industrial term loan disbursement, which is considered as a pivotal segment of the industrial sector, posted a negative growth of 1.77 per cent in the first half of the FY14 compared with that of a positive growth of 26.86 per cent in the same period of the FY13.
The industrial term loan disbursement stood at Tk 21,565.45 crore in July-December of the FY14 against Tk 21,953.80 crore in the same period of the FY13.
-With New Age input
