Panic spread in Bangladesh at the beginning of last year after the covid-19 hit China. In March last year, the first Kareena Ragee was identified in the country. General leave is declared to prevent infection. After that, the ban lasted for more than a year. Almost all the trade and commerce of the country came to a standstill. The government stands by the traders to break the stagnation of trade and commerce. Lakhs of crores of rupees were announced. The incentive loans provided by the government are helping the big business to recover from the losses incurred. That information also matches. Profits of Institutions – Looking at Lexan’s account. During January-March last year, ACI Limited had a net profit of Rs 36 crore. The company borrowed Tk 326 crore at low interest from the Pranadna fund. The loan was disbursed for use as the working capital of the organization. Since then,
ACI has made a profit of Tk 49 crore in January-March this year. ACI Limited has business in various sectors including consumer goods, medicines, consumer goods, agricultural and commercial vehicles, motorcycles. This is one of the largest industrial groups in the country. The BSRM steel plant, the country’s largest importer, also closed early last year. The company made a profit of Tk 54 crore in January-March 2020. The company borrowed Tk 841 crore from the Pranadna fund to cover the loss of Kareena. That loan is used for business. As a result, the company’s profit has increased by Tk 137 crore in January-March this year. After recovering from the wound, it has started returning to normal profit.
Many companies are starting to return to normal profits
We take advantage of government-sponsored loans to do business. The factory was reopened after a long hiatus. Now production is back to normal. However, there is a little pressure to increase the price of raw materials in the world market. Although many of the big industrial groups in various sectors have returned to the rhythm of the loan, there have also been allegations against some of them for spending the low-interest money on other projects. Many have started delaying to repay the loan. Again, loans have been given to some institutions without proper selection in order to distribute loans. Concerns have been raised about getting timely repayment of loans from them. The incentive fund for the industry and services sector is Tk 33,000 crore. The disbursement of loans from this fund started in April 2020. So far, 2,000 institutions have borrowed Tk 32,038 crore from the fund.
The interest rate on the loan is 9 percent. Of which half the interest is being borne by the government in the tax money of the people. Borrower traders have to pay the remaining 4 and a half percent interest. The terms of this loan can only be used as working capital. This loan will be available only to the companies that have been affected by the tax. There is a lot going on in the big industrial organizations with the loan of Pranadena. Now is the time to repay these low-interest loans. Former Director-General of Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management Tawfiq Ahmad Chowdhury told Prothom Alake that this initiative is undoubtedly a good initiative of the government. As a result, the affected traders are able to turn around in business. But the question is, who got the loan money and where it was used.
Many of the big industrial groups in different sectors have returned to the rhythm with the loan of Pranadena
In these cases, loans have been given without any verification or selection. As a result, the question remains whether these loans will be repaid at all. Therefore, for the loan that is being given in the second phase, there should be increased supervision. On behalf of Prothom Ala, information was collected from the banks of the country on borrowing in the industrial and service sectors. Analysis of the data of the top 100 borrowers shows that the government company Biman Bangladesh has taken the most loans. Sonali Bank has given a loan of Tk 2,000 crore to the company from the incentive fund. Abul Khair’s group has received a loan of Tk 1,161 crore. S Alam Group has received a loan of Tk 1,006 crore. Citi Group received Tk 728 crore and Bashundhara Group received Tk 6 crore.
Apart from this, BSRM owes Tk 741 crore, Nieman Group Tk 599 crore, and Pran Group Tk 559 crore. Got it. Among these groups, there are institutions that have never defaulted. Some organizations have defaulted in the past. Pran – RFL Group Director (Marketing) Kamruzzaman Kamal said, “Farmers were in big trouble at the beginning of Kareena. Our sales also declined. One lakh farmers are involved in the production of agricultural vegetables, rice, and milk with us. However, the collection of these raw materials from them was not stopped for a day. I have collected milk and made it into powder. I have bought the seasonal crops including mango and guava. It has been an opportunity to stay by the side of the farmer as he has got a loan of incentive. Now the business is turning around a lot.
