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Banks struck by top defaulters

Reiaul Karim Byron
Commercial banks are struggling to recover bad loans from their top defaulters, largely due to the latter's tendency to file petitions with courts to thwart the process.
In the first quarter of 2013, the four state-owned commercial banks, which account for almost half of the banking sector's total loan defaults, have managed to recover only 16 percent of their year's target from their top 20 defaulters, according to Bangladesh Bank.
“Because of the writ petitions against banks, we find it very difficult to recover loans, which are mounting by the day," said Pradip Kumar Dutta, managing director of Sonali Bank.
The bank's recovery from defaulters other than the top 20, however, stood at 30 percent in the first three months of the year, which Dutta deems to be “satisfactory".
"It's a pity that the big loan defaulters foil loan-recovery by filing writ petitions with the High Court. Incredibly, the small borrowers, despite being affected by floods and river erosions, are repaying loans in time," said a high official of Agrani Bank.
"We strongly recommend banks appoint the best lawyers out there," said a central bank official, adding the BB revises the top 100 defaulters' list every year.
Of the top 50 defaulters, 18 are of Sonali Bank, according to BB.
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This year, the Hall-Mark Croup, which swindled Tk 2,600 crore loans from Sonali Bank, is tipped to top the list.
Earlier, a businessman from Narayanganj, with his bad loan of Tk 163 crore, was the country's top defaulter.
“Other than the identified defaulters, there are some influential business houses which are heavily indebted. What they do is, they take out loans from another bank to service their loan in one bank—and the cycle continues,' said an official of Janata Bank. “In theory, they are big
defaulters, but have been flying under the radar. “
No statistics on private banks are available, but a top official of a private bank said their recovery of default loans is far from satisfactory due to pendingcourt appeals.
As of March 2013, the amount of default loans stood at Tk 51,019 crore. Once the written-off loans are added, the figure goes upwards ofTk 70,000 crore.
In the last one year, default loans almost doubled due to various scams in the banking sector and unfavourable business climate.