During the same period, 22 percent of the targeted loan was recovered from other defaulters.

The banks are facing problems in recovering the money from the top defaulters as the culprits file petitions in the court which ultimately halt the banks' drives, chief executives of the NCBs said at a review meeting with the Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Salehuddin Ahmed yesterday.

Available data show, the four NCBs realised only Tk 7.9 crore from January to March against the year's target of Tk 255 crore from the top 20 defaulters in different NCBs. Meanwhile, Tk 20.33 crore was realised from other defaulters during the same period against the year's target of Tk 203.30 crore.

In the meeting with the central bank governor, the bankers said that a number of people listed by different NCBs as top defaulters have been arrested in the ongoing anti-corruption drive and the banks could not recover the money from them.

Explaining the good response from other defaulters, the NCB officials told the meeting that such defaulters are repaying the loans as the banks are warning them of involving law enforcers to recover the money.

Total classified loans in Sonali Bank went up by 2 percentage point from January to March, while it rose by 1 percentage point each in Janata and Agrani banks and 6.5 percentage point in Rupali Bank, BB data show.

Salehuddin Ahmed expressed his dissatisfaction over the fact that the percentage of defaulted loans at the NCBs has increased, which was coming down gradually in the preceding years.

The BB governor also asked the NCB officials for quick disposal of petitions filed by top defaulters and if necessary, to take assistance of the district administration.

Sonali Bank, the largest NCB, managed to recover Tk 1.07 crore from its top 20 defaulters in first three months against the year's total target of Tk 169 crore, which is only 0.63 percent. Janata Bank's performance was a bit better and it realised Tk 6.47 crore or 23.52 percent against a target of Tk 27.5 crore from the top defaulters and Rupali Bank recovered Tk 38 lakh against a target of Tk 38.5 crore.

The Agrani Bank, however, could not recover a single penny against the target of Tk 19.8 crore.

An official of the Agrani Bank said that they are negotiating with the top 20 defaulters and hoped that the bank will be able to realise a handsome amount in the remaining months of the year.

In case of other defaulted loans, Sonali Bank realised Tk 94.56 crore in first three months against the year's target of Tk 440 crore, Janata Bank recovered Tk 42.91 crore against the target of Tk 165 crore, Agrani Bank realised Tk 56.71 against Tk 275 crore target and Rupali Bank realised Tk 9.17 crore against a target of Tk 66 crore.

The data shows that among the NCBs, Rupali Bank's credit growth was 1.23 percent in the first three months of the year and the Sonali Bank's growth was 0.29 percent. Other two NCBs, Janata and Agrani, however, witnessed negative credit growth, 8 percent and 5.50 percent.

Earlier, the central bank set a limit of credit growth in the NCBs that says that it will not exceed 5 percent comparing to the previous year.