300 defaulters fail to repay Tk 509b: Minister

Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal. File photo
Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal. File photo

Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Saturday placed in parliament the list of 300 top loan defaulters of the country involving Tk 509.42 billion (Tk 50,942 crore).

The finance minister made the disclosure while responding to a tabled written question from ruling party MP Israfil Alam.

He said these loan defaulters took loans from banks and financial institutions of the public and private sector.

He mentioned that the outstanding amount of these loan defaulters is Tk 705.71 billion (Tk 70,571 crore) while classified amount is Tk 528.37 billion (Tk 52,837 crore).

The top 10 defaulters are -- Samannaz Super Oil Ltd (Tk 1,049 crore), Galaxy Sweater and Yarn Dyeing Ltd (Tk 984 crore), Rimex Footwear Ltd (Tk 976 crore), Quantum Power Systems Ltd (Tk 828 crore), Maheen Enterprise Ltd (Tk 825 crore), Rupali Composite Leather Wear Ltd (Tk 798 crore), Crescent Leather Products Ltd (Tk 776 crore), SA Oil Refinery Ltd (Tk 707 crore), Suprov Composite Knit Ltd (Tk 610 crore) and Grameen Shakti (Tk 601 crore).

Mustafa Kamal also disclosed a list of borrowers who took more than 50 million (Tk five crore) from banks, financial institutions and the public sector having outstanding amounts Tk 50 million (five crore) and below.

The list showed that some 14,617 individuals and institutions took loans of Tk 17,413.48 billion (Tk 1,741,348 crore) since 2009 while Tk 100,183 crore fell into default.

Responding to a tabled starred question from Workers Party MP elected for reserved women seat Lutfun Nesa Khan, the finance minister said the number of loan defaulters in September 2015 was 111,954 involving 591.05 billion (Tk 59,105 crore) while the number increased to 170,390 with 1,023.15 billion (Tk 102,315.19 crore) in December 2018.

He pointed out reasons, both home and abroad, which were beyond control but affected businessmen and entrepreneurs, raising the number of loan defaulters.

Mustafa Kamal also held banks responsible for not choosing good borrowers.

He said the deficit of collateral against loans, mortgaging the same asset in more than one banks for loans, showing the value of collateral higher than the actual market price, causes risk to any loan. "As a result, there's a strong possibility of the loan turning into a bad one."

The finance minister said a stagnant situation prevails if any loan was defaulted and this leads to a hurdle for both loan disbursement and collection.

He said the government has given a special loan facility for rescheduling the long unpaid loans and one-time exit on 16 May 2019, aiming to maintain the normal flow of loans for the production other sectors, and reducing the defaulted loans and ensuring economic development of the country.

"With this, (we) hope the amount of unpaid loans will decline in the banking sector," he added.

Replying to Israfil Alam's question, the minister said the government provided Tk 136.13 billion (Tk 13,612.60 crore) from 2015-16 fiscal to 2018-19 fiscal to some banks which had been suffering from capital shortfall.