"We have launched a special financing programme for women entrepreneurship development," he said in an interview with The Daily Star. "Under the scheme, Tk 4 crore has already been disbursed to 200 entrepreneurs."

The maximum ceiling of this loan without collateral is Tk 5 lakh and the interest rate is 10 percent, the Janata Bank CEO said.

Women entrepreneurs can avail themselves of this credit for their small income generating projects such as embroidery, boutique, screen printing, doll making, artificial flower making, gift items, printing-based small industries, jute and cane products, plastic goods, fast food and food processing.

The bank has achieved the Asian Banking Award 2004 for its women entrepreneurship development programme which was presented at the competition jointly arranged by Asian Bankers Association (ABA) and Bank Marketing Association of the Philippines (BMAP) recently.

"The programme was highly appreciated during the competition," Khan said. Forty-nine banks from 15 Asian countries took part in the competition with a total of 107 entries.

The Janata Bank managing director said the loan programme is being implemented through 34 designated branches of Dhaka city, divisional cities, and old and new district headquarters.

The recovery rate of this scheme is 99 percent.

"Sixty percent of the beneficiaries of our microcredit programmes is women," said the CEO.

He said Janata Bank is already involved in financing small and medium enterprises (SMEs), small business development and agro-based industries considering the fact that growth in these sectors is vital for a stable economy.

The bank is extending loans to a range of sectors like food processing, textile, paper board, printing and packaging, leather and leather products, chemicals, glass, pharmaceuticals, ceramic, malamine, engineering, cement and infrastructure.

"Another priority area we have chosen is information technology (IT)," the managing director said. "We are providing loans to entrepreneurs in software industry."

For the development of IT sector, he said, the bank is now planning to provide loan to set up satellite earth stations in private sector.

Khan said the bank has already set up two divisions -- Small & Medium Enterprise (SME) Division and Micro Enterprise & Special Programme Division -- for supporting the SMEs and agro-based industries.

Agro-based industries such as dairy, poultry, fishery, hatchery, animal feed industry, seed production, balanced fertiliser production, flower cultivation and nursery are getting credit facilities from the bank.

About other loan programmes, the managing director said the bank is also providing financial support to infrastructure projects. "We have already financed some small power plants and some others are now in the pipeline."

Recently the bank introduced a small development business financing scheme under which small entrepreneurs are getting loans up to Tk 3 lakh without collateral for expansion and modernisation of their shops.

During the last six months, the bank has increased its capital to Tk 465 crore from Tk 149 crore, the Janata Bank CEO said.