15 firms seek large loan rescheduling facility

Fifteen conglomerates, including Beximco, have appealed to Bangladesh Bank for long-term loan rescheduling under the central bank's large-loan restructuring policy.

Nine indebted conglomerates have sought to reschedule Tk 13,785 crore loans. The figures for six other borrowers are not yet available.

The central bank, in a major move on January 27, allowed defaulters of large loans -- Tk 500 crore and above -- to reschedule their debts on the ground that they were affected by 'various external and domestic factors beyond their control.'

The BB deadline for receiving rescheduling applications expired on Tuesday.

The loan rescheduling proposals of the nine borrowers were forwarded by several state and private banks to the central bank's scrutiny committee. 

The committee will examine if the proposals comply with set guidelines and put forward recommendations to higher officials, said SK Sur Chowdhury, deputy governor of the central bank. 

For almost all the rescheduling proposals, terms and conditions, including interest rates, differ in applications sent by different banks, even when the same business group is concerned.

For Beximco Group's loan rescheduling, banks have proposed to charge interest rates between 10 percent and 12.5 percent. 

But Chowdhury said the terms and conditions set by different banks, including the rate of interest, should be the same for the same group.

The central bank would seek explanation from the banks if different banks are found to be charging different rates from the same group, the deputy governor said.

However, he said the banks will set the terms and conditions and the central bank would not impose anything.

So far eight banks have sought to reschedule loans worth Tk 5,555 crore of Beximco Group: Janata Bank Tk 1,849 crore, Sonali Tk 1,075 crore, Agrani Tk 801 crore, Rupali Tk 604 crore, National Tk 478 crore, AB Tk 484 crore, Bank Asia Tk 30 crore and Exim Tk 233 crore. 

Ten banks have sent proposals to reschedule Jamuna Group's Tk 1,685 crore loans. Of the banks, Janata proposed to reschedule Tk 598 crore, while Islami Bank Tk 188 crore, and Dutch-Bangla Bank Tk 175 crore.

AB, First Security and IFIC sent rescheduling proposals for Sikder Group's Tk 1,838 crore loans.

The central bank's move to give large loan defaulters a chance to reschedule their loans came after Beximco Group had applied to the BB to rescue it from a cash crunch.

To take the restructuring facility, a borrower must pay minimum 1 percent of the loan as down payment if the loan figure exceeds Tk 1,000 crore.

In case of loans between Tk 500 crore and Tk 1,000 crore, the borrower has to pay 2 percent as down payment.

After getting the restructuring facility, large borrowers will enjoy 50 percent term loan facility against their last credit limit from the banks and 60 percent for their working capital.

The restructured loans will have a maximum tenure of 12 years for term loan and six years for demand and/or continuous loan. The interest rate against the outstanding balance of the restructured loan may be at a discount from the prevailing declared rate of the bank.

However, it may not be less than the cost of fund plus 1 percent. The banks will have to keep the restructured loans under special mention accounts and they must keep 2 percent provision against such type of loans.

The banks will have to withdraw the restructuring facility if any borrower fails to repay instalment for two consecutive quarters.