Banking

Fresh lifeline to northern jute mills

2 November 2010, 18:00 PM

Rafique Sarker, Rangpur

An under-construction building of Azad Jute Mills in Lalmonirhat.Photo: STAR

Most commercial and specialised banks are keen to finance the small- and mid-scale private jute mills in northern districts. Over the last seven years, BASIC Bank, Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank, National Bank, Janata Bank and Uttara Bank have lent about Tk 100 crore to a sector that produces yarn bags. BASIC's Sayedpur Branch alone gave more than Tk 60 crore to five jute mills in Dinajpur, Nilphamari, Rangpur and Kurigram. BASIC bankrolled ND Jute Mills and Poddar Agro Industry in Nilphamari, JK Jute Processing Works in Rangpur, Kurigram Jute Mills in Kurigram and Mirza Jute Mills in Dinajpur, said Ekramul Bari, manager of BASIC's Sayedpur branch. Uttara Bank extended Tk 2 crore in funds to Rangpur Jute Mills Ltd in Kounia upazila, Rangpur, while National Bank financed Tk 7 crore to Eku Jute Mill in Sayedpur, Nilphamari. BASIC Bank also financed Bhai Bhai Jute Mills in Burirhat, Rangpur. Loan proposals for two more jute mills -- Motahar Hossain Jute Mill at Pirgachha and SR Jute Mill at Kounia in Rangpur -- are being processed, Bari said. The bank will disburse these loans by December, said BASIC Bank's Deputy General Manager for Rangpur Rezaul Karim. RAKUB financed Tk 16 crore for the construction of Azad Jute Mills in Mohendra Nagar in Lalmonirhat, which is at its final stages. Quamrul Hassan Azad, managing director of Azad Jute Mills, said: "We hope to go into production in December. About 1,000 workers will be employed." North Bengal Jute Mills is also being constructed in Mithapukur, Rangpur, with Tk 16 crore from Janata Bank. "We gave term-loans and working capital to the jute mills and most are paying their instalments regularly," Karim said. ND Jute Mills Proprietor Raju Poddar said: "We have another jute mill -- Poddar Agro Industry. We have already paid the loans back to the bank." Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry Vice President Mostafa Azad Chowdhury Babu, who is also a director of Motahar Hossain Jute Mills Ltd, said, "Jute entrepreneurship is growing in the Rangpur division. This region is moving towards industrialisation. A large number of people are employed in the jute mills." "Bangladesh Bank should consider the Rangpur division as a separate economic zone and make policy to help entrepreneurs with bank loans at low interest rates, to increase the number of jute mills here."