Commercial banks extend support to 26 SME clusters

The Bangladesh Bank has selected 26 SME clusters across the country for financing by commercial banks to gear up production of small and medium enterprises, BB officials said.

A number of commercial banks have already started to disburse loans to the SME clusters, they said.

Sukamal Sinha Chowdhury, general manager, SME and special programmes department of BB, said the central bank in October last year had asked the commercial banks to coordinate the credit programme of at least one SME cluster.

A bank can coordinate financing programme of one or more clusters if it wants, he said.

He said the BB had selected a SME cluster when a number of similar manufacturing units developed in a particular area like the light engineering workshops.

Sukamal said after the country’s independence, hundreds of light engineering workshops emerged at Dholaikhal in the capital and in Bogra.

‘We have been earning a significant amount of foreign exchange every year by exporting the light engineering products, but the clusters do not get sufficient amount of bank loans yet because of lack of planning of the authorities. The same situation is prevailing in the other SME clusters,’ he said.

The commercial banks last year made a commitment to distribute loans to the SME clusters, targeting to provide a total of Tk 6,833.59 crore as credit. They distributed 69 per cent, or Tk 4,718.21 crore, of the loan target till September, 2011.

The disbursement of the targeted loans in the last three months of 2011 is not known yet as the central bank could not prepare the annual SME loan disbursement sheet till Thursday.

The BB officials, however, hoped that the target of cluster credits in 2011 was fulfilled.

According to the BB data, First Security Islami Bank, Islami Bank Bangladesh, One Bank and Social Islami Bank coordinated the financing programme for the dried fish cluster in Cox’s Bazar.

The rice processing cluster in Naogaon, Dinajpur, Mymensingh, Setabganj and Kushtia was coordinated by Mercantile Bank, Uttara Bank, Prime Bank, Agrani Bank and Exim Bank.

The light engineering cluster at Dholaikhal in Dhaka and Bogra was coordinated by Jamuna Bank, Basic Bank, Eastern Bank and First Security Islami Bank.

Loans to the weaving clusters in Narsingdi, Tangail, Sirajganj and Kushtia were coordinated by United Commercial Bank, Pubali Bank, Southeast Bank, Mutual Trust Bank, Islami Bank Bangladesh and Shahajalal Islami Bank.

Loans for the Monipuri weaving cluster in Moulvibazar and Sylhet were coordinated by Sonali Bank and First Security Islami Bank.

The incense sticks producing cluster in Moulvibazar was supported by NCC Bank and Rupali Bank. The power loom sector in Sirajganj and Narsingdi was supported by Dhaka Bank and UCBL. The readymade garments cluster in Keraniganj was supported by AB Bank.

The bamboo and cane industry in Munsiganj and Sylhet was supported by Bank Asia and Uttara Bank. The handicrafts in Jamalpur was assisted by National Bank.

The sari cluster in Tangail was supported by NCC Bank. The braid-craft in Sirajganj was helped by National Bank. The hosiery in Narayanganj was assisted by Eastern Bank.

The flower cultivation as well as its marketing in Jessore was coordinated by Standard Bank and Agrani Bank. The power generation from rice husk in Jessore was supported by Standard Bank.

The jute products in Nilphamari was supported by Basic Bank. The spare parts cluster at Dholaikhal in Dhaka was supported by Prime Bank.

The stone-breaking at Jaflong in Sylhet got help from One Bank. Janata Bank supported the leather-goods clusters at Demra in Dhaka and dairy in Pubna.

Trust Bank supported the cluster of embroidery products in Jessore and carpets in Rangpur.

The cluster of garment accessories in Gazipur was helped by Southeast Bank. The garments cluster at Jinjera in Dhaka was got help from Jamuna Bank. The needle craft in Jessore was helped by Shahjalal Islami Bank.

Md Maniruzzaman Sarker, joint director of the SME and special programmes department of the BB, said the main purpose of the cluster selection was to strengthen the SME sector and ease bank financing.

He said, ‘We hope that all the banks will finance the 26 clusters at a time within 2013 and all clusters may go to production by that time.’

Sukamal Sinha Chowdhury said that all the organisations including trade bodies and BISIC and Export Promotion Bureau were working to strengthen the SME sector, but there was a lack of coordination among them.

The government should take steps to strengthen the coordination among the organisations, he added.