BSRS now struggling to survive
Friday, 3 August 2007
M Azizur Rahman
State-owned Bangladesh Shilpa Rin Sangstha (BSRS), once the country's pioneer in development financing, is now struggling to survive with skeleton staff and lax government support.
In an interview with the FE, the BSRS managing director FRM Hafizul Islam said despite having good potentials the organisation is now beset with manpower shortage and other operational problems.
The BSRS has now a total of 170 employees against 239 shown in its organogram.
The BSRS, which was established in 1972 by the President's Order no 128 to provide credit facilities and other assistance to industrial concerns and to encourage and broaden the base of investment in Bangladesh, fuelled the country's first generation industrial growth immediately after the emergence of the country.
This state-owned specialised bank got government-arranged funding worth Tk 3.50 billion for providing industrial credit during the first era of its inception until 1984, said a senior BSRS official.
Utilising the government fund the BSRS has so far provided credit facilities to various industrial units to the tune of over Tk 6.30 billion.
In return the BSRS has provided tax amounting to Tk 1.82 billion and dividend worth Tk 200 million to the government.
It has also recorded a net profit worth over Tk 2.50 billion. It is free of liabilities.
The BSRS, however, has outstanding loan amounting to Tk 2.10 billion and it has so far written off Tk 12.84 billion from its bad debts.
After 1984, the government stopped funding the BSRS for industrial credit in line with the recommendations from the donor agencies.
Since 1985, the BSRS has been expanding its businesses through realisation of the previous funds.
It got commercial banking license from Bangladesh Bank (BB) in 1999. It runs banking operation on a limited scale with only two branches.
The BSRS also got merchant banking licence from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 1998 and floated its first mutual fund, which is now being traded in the country's stock markets.
It has also approached the SEC for operating a brokerage house for trading of shares of the companies listed on the country's stock exchange.
Favourable policy measures from the government will help boost the BSRS operations further, banking sources said.
State-owned Bangladesh Shilpa Rin Sangstha (BSRS), once the country's pioneer in development financing, is now struggling to survive with skeleton staff and lax government support.
In an interview with the FE, the BSRS managing director FRM Hafizul Islam said despite having good potentials the organisation is now beset with manpower shortage and other operational problems.
The BSRS has now a total of 170 employees against 239 shown in its organogram.
The BSRS, which was established in 1972 by the President's Order no 128 to provide credit facilities and other assistance to industrial concerns and to encourage and broaden the base of investment in Bangladesh, fuelled the country's first generation industrial growth immediately after the emergence of the country.
This state-owned specialised bank got government-arranged funding worth Tk 3.50 billion for providing industrial credit during the first era of its inception until 1984, said a senior BSRS official.
Utilising the government fund the BSRS has so far provided credit facilities to various industrial units to the tune of over Tk 6.30 billion.
In return the BSRS has provided tax amounting to Tk 1.82 billion and dividend worth Tk 200 million to the government.
It has also recorded a net profit worth over Tk 2.50 billion. It is free of liabilities.
The BSRS, however, has outstanding loan amounting to Tk 2.10 billion and it has so far written off Tk 12.84 billion from its bad debts.
After 1984, the government stopped funding the BSRS for industrial credit in line with the recommendations from the donor agencies.
Since 1985, the BSRS has been expanding its businesses through realisation of the previous funds.
It got commercial banking license from Bangladesh Bank (BB) in 1999. It runs banking operation on a limited scale with only two branches.
The BSRS also got merchant banking licence from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 1998 and floated its first mutual fund, which is now being traded in the country's stock markets.
It has also approached the SEC for operating a brokerage house for trading of shares of the companies listed on the country's stock exchange.
Favourable policy measures from the government will help boost the BSRS operations further, banking sources said.