Business Desk :
Grameen Bank has earned a good profit in the recent months despite the fact that the current management of the bank significantly cut the rate of interest for lending to poor, according to the latest data available from the bank.
The bank for poor made a profit of Taka 102 crore in the first six months of this year as against the yearly profit of Taka 139.29 in 2016. On the other hand, the bank is now charging lower rate of interest for lending to its members who mainly belong to the lower income groups of the society.
“We are now charging the highest 20.0 percent interest against a loan though the ceiling of interest is 27.0 percent fixed by the Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA),” acting managing director of the bank Ratan Kumar Nag told that claiming that the rate is the lowest among the micro-credit organisations in the country.
Besides, he said the rate of interest is even lower for various purposes. For instance, the interest rate for education loan is 5.0 percent and for buying house is 8.0 percent.
“In addition, Grameen Bank offers interest-free loan to help rehabilitate baggers and other people who are struggling for a better life,” Nag said.
Apart from lowering the interest rate, the bank has also initiated exploring new areas of lending with the aims of bringing more people under its operations, the bank’s high official said.
“The bank has so far disbursed loan to 52,000 students for higher education while planning loan for helping medical graduates to establish hospitals in rural areas to provide poor people with better health services,” Nag said.
He said the bank is also providing loans to rural entrepreneurs who need financial support to expand their existing businesses.
“The expansion of loan operation coupled with efficient monitoring of loan disbursement and recovery helped the bank increase its profit while cutting interest rate for the betterment of its low-income clients,” the acting MD said.
“We have increased field level monitoring and launched Skype for maintaining communications with regional managers and field level officials,” he added.
According to him, loan disbursement surged to Taka 18,754 crore last year from Taka 9,615 crore in 2010 when the rate of loan recovery was 99.05 percent in 2016 against 97.37 percent in 2010.
The number of the bank’s members or loan recipients increased from 83.41 lakh in 2010 to 89.02 lakh in 2016 and overdue loans also fell significantly in the recent months while it came down to 0.41 percent in June this year from 0.55 percent in 2016 and 2 percent in 2015, Nag said.
“All the bank’s indicators including profit, loan disbursement and recovery and number of beneficiaries are currently on a steady rise,” he said, adding that the bank’s already brought all the villages of the country under its operation.
Grameen Bank has earned a good profit in the recent months despite the fact that the current management of the bank significantly cut the rate of interest for lending to poor, according to the latest data available from the bank.
The bank for poor made a profit of Taka 102 crore in the first six months of this year as against the yearly profit of Taka 139.29 in 2016. On the other hand, the bank is now charging lower rate of interest for lending to its members who mainly belong to the lower income groups of the society.
“We are now charging the highest 20.0 percent interest against a loan though the ceiling of interest is 27.0 percent fixed by the Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA),” acting managing director of the bank Ratan Kumar Nag told that claiming that the rate is the lowest among the micro-credit organisations in the country.
Besides, he said the rate of interest is even lower for various purposes. For instance, the interest rate for education loan is 5.0 percent and for buying house is 8.0 percent.
“In addition, Grameen Bank offers interest-free loan to help rehabilitate baggers and other people who are struggling for a better life,” Nag said.
Apart from lowering the interest rate, the bank has also initiated exploring new areas of lending with the aims of bringing more people under its operations, the bank’s high official said.
“The bank has so far disbursed loan to 52,000 students for higher education while planning loan for helping medical graduates to establish hospitals in rural areas to provide poor people with better health services,” Nag said.
He said the bank is also providing loans to rural entrepreneurs who need financial support to expand their existing businesses.
“The expansion of loan operation coupled with efficient monitoring of loan disbursement and recovery helped the bank increase its profit while cutting interest rate for the betterment of its low-income clients,” the acting MD said.
“We have increased field level monitoring and launched Skype for maintaining communications with regional managers and field level officials,” he added.
According to him, loan disbursement surged to Taka 18,754 crore last year from Taka 9,615 crore in 2010 when the rate of loan recovery was 99.05 percent in 2016 against 97.37 percent in 2010.
The number of the bank’s members or loan recipients increased from 83.41 lakh in 2010 to 89.02 lakh in 2016 and overdue loans also fell significantly in the recent months while it came down to 0.41 percent in June this year from 0.55 percent in 2016 and 2 percent in 2015, Nag said.
“All the bank’s indicators including profit, loan disbursement and recovery and number of beneficiaries are currently on a steady rise,” he said, adding that the bank’s already brought all the villages of the country under its operation.
