The amount of defaulted loans in the nationalised commercial banks (NCBs) rose by 5.49 percent or Tk 632 crore, while private commercial banks (PCBs) saw an increase of 10.58 percent or Tk 462 crore, recent statistics of the Bangladesh Bank shows.

Defaulted loans in the foreign commercial banks (FCBs) went up by 38 percent or Tk 32 crore and those in development financial institutions (DFIs) by only Tk 2 crore or.048 percent.

Out of the four NCBs, Sonali Bank, Janata Bank and Rupali Bank saw rise in the defaulted loans, while Agrani Bank managed to keep the amount down.

Among the 30 PCBs, default loans of 22 increased during the period. Out of 9 foreign banks, Citibank NA and Commercial Bank of Ceylon Ltd have no defaulted loans. The amount of defaulted loans of individual foreign banks was seen very low during the period and the total amount increased significantly due to the surge in bad loans of only one bank--the HSBC. HSBC's bad loans reached Tk 37.84 crore in March 2007 from Tk 1.39 crore in December 2006, contributing to the foreign banks' overall increased defaulted loans.

Sonali Bank sources said the bank failed to recover a huge amount of bad loans from its big loan defaulters following writ petitions.

The recent anti-corruption drive helped Agrani Bank recover a good amount of loans from its small defaulters during the three-month period, but the bank could not recover much from the big defaulters due to the writ petitions.

However, in the present situation the defaulted loan recovery rate of Agrani Bank is improving gradually, the officials said. The bank recovered Tk 75 crore in cash during the last three months, whereas it recovered a total of Tk 200 crore defaulted loans last year. The bad loans of Agrani Bank were down by Tk 47crore during the last three months.

Rupali Bank's defaulted loans increased significantly by Tk 300 crore to Tk 1,435 crore in March 2007 from Tk 1,135 crore in December 2006. Besides, in 2006, the bank witnessed a rise of Tk 385 crore in its bad loans.

The two main reasons behind Rupali Bank's increasing bad loans are delay in the completion of its privatisation process that began in 2006 and the government's plans to make the bank an international standard one, the bank sources said, adding that the bank is going through a transition period.

Out of the total amount of Tk 1,53,763 crore in outstanding loans in the banking system, the amount of classified loans was Tk 21,223 crore or 13.80 percent on March 31, 2007 compared to 13.15 percent or Tk 20,098 crore on December 31, 2006, sources said.

Classified loans in the NCBs amounted to Tk 12,135 crore or 24.02 percent of their outstanding loans as of March 2007 against Tk 11,503 crore or 22.94 percent in December 2006.

Defaulted loans in the PCBs rose to Tk 4,827 crore or 5.85 percent of their outstanding loans in March '07, which had been Tk 4,365 crore or 5.45 percent in December '06.

Classified loans in the DFIs amounted to Tk 4,147crore or 33.84 percent of their outstanding loans in March '07, which had been Tk 4,145 crore or 33.68 percent in December 2006.

Defaulted loans in FCBs came down to Tk 116 crore or 1.12 percent of their outstanding loans in March '07, which were Tk 83 crore or .81 percent in December 2006.