& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

NCBs’ six-month profits plummet by 61pc

REJAUL KARIM BYRON
Pressurised by government high-ups to give low rates on loans, the nationalised commercial banks (NCBs) saw their profits plummeted by a staggering 61 percent during January-June period this year, compared with last year's figure.
The plunge in NCB profits is also reflected in the sharing of total profits made by NCBs and private commercial banks (PCBs), as the nationalised banks account for only 5.5 percent of the profits with more than half of the total bank branches across the country.
NCB officials attributed the profit dive to the reduced interest rates offered for loans against their high costs of fund as well as lending restrictions. Another reason is the increase in NCBs' expenditure for staff salaries for payment of dearness allowance.
The four NCBs -- Sonali, Janata, Agrani and Rupali Bank -- made a total operational profit of Tk 58 crore during the first six months of this year, down from Tk 158 crore they earned during the corresponding period of last year.
While PCBs witnessed a whopping 26 percent rise in profits to earn
a total of Tk 996 crore during the same period, the NCBs struggled to make profit failing to cope with their increasing operational costs, bankers said.
Sonali Bank, the largest NCB, incurred loss while the other three earned profits. Sonali Bank recorded a Tk 35 crore loss during January-June period this year, compared with a profit of Tk 17 crore during last year's same period.
Janata Bank earned Tk 81.57
□ June-'03 ClJune-'04 crore in the first half o f
this year, down from Tk 95 crore earned last year. Agrani Bank's profit declined to Tk 7 crore from Tk 25 crore last year while Rupali Bank's profit fell to Tk 6.21 crore from Tk 13.35 crore.
NCB deposits however rose by 6.11 percent or Tk 3,209 crore to stand at Tk 55,705 crore till end of June. On the other hand, their total credits marked a rise of 7.6 percent or Tk 2,885 crore to reach Tk 40,951
crore.
During the six-month period, Sonali Bank performed well in the recovery of classified loans realising Tk 397 crore, compared with last year's Tk 225 crore.
Janata Bank recovered Tk 104.66 crore, three times of its last year's recovered amount, while Agrani Bank recovered Tk 528.44 crore and Rupali Bank Tk 91 crore.
While import business of Janata Bank grew by Tk 659.8 crore to reach Tk 3341.53 crore, its export business saw a Tk 538.9 crore increase to stand at Tk 2,582.35 crore till June.
Agrani Bank's import business rose by Tk 297 crore to Tk 1799.31 while export business reached Tk 1,975 crore showing a rise of Tk 250 crore.
Rupali Bank's import business grew by Tk 583 crore to Tk 1459.4 crore and export business rose by Tk 20 crore to Tk 381 crore.
The four NCBs constitute 54 percent of the total bank branches across the country. Out of the total 6,230 branches of all banks in operation, they have 3,390 while PCBs have 1,488 branches or 23 percent of the total.