Income of Tk 57,000cr bank loan suspended

Zarif Mahmud: Due to excessive non-performing loans, the commercial banks are not able to collect the interest income of Tk 57,000 crore. These amounts are kept separately as deferred interest. Global and domestic recession is reducing the income of banks. In this, the profit of the banks is decreasing due to not being able to take large amount of interest income due to defaulted loans. Which has a negative impact on the banking sector. This information is known from a report of Bangladesh Bank.
As per the conventional rules, interest collected by banks in cash and interest charged against regular loans may be shown in the income section even if not collected. But if a loan is defaulted, it cannot take the income sector without collecting interest in cash against it. They have to be deposited separately as deferred interest. Only when those interests are collected in cash can they be taken into income. Besides, those defaulted loans which will be renewed, the interest can be taken in the income sector. Besides, no more interest can be taken in the income sector. At present, due to the increase in defaulted loans in the banking sector, the banks are not able to collect large amounts of interest income.
In this regard, the former governor of Bangladesh Bank Salehuddin Ahmed said, Sushan’s extreme crisis in the banking sector. Loans are being disbursed under the pressure of those in power without scrutiny. Even if it is distributed, the collection amount is very insignificant.
On the other hand, willful defaulters are not penalized and are given special exemptions under policy assistance. Because of this, defaulted loans are gradually increasing. The income of the bank is decreasing. Shareholders and depositors are affected. There is no alternative to ensure good governance to solve these problems. Besides, implementation of existing laws is very important.
Based on the information received from the commercial banks, it can be seen in the report prepared by the Central Bank till last September, the amount of bank default loans has increased to Tk 1 lakh 55 thousand 340 crores till September. Against this, the amount of interest charged is Tk 56 thousand 841 crores 75 lakhs. But as these interests are not collected in cash or defaulted loans are not renewed, it is not possible to take them into the income sector. These are transferred to a separate account called Suspended. Of this, 6 state-owned banks have Tk 25,749 crore, which is half of the total deferred interest income. The net income of the bank has decreased due to the suspension of this huge income. Apart from this, the interest income of two more government specialized banks has been suspended for about Tk 14,700 crores. Interest income of Tk 28,675 crore has been suspended due to defaulted loans of 43 private banks.
Banks are not able to collect these interest charges due to defaulted loans. On the other hand, against these loans, money has to be deposited in the provision sector from the profit earned by the bank. Banks are affected in two ways.
As per the prevailing provisions, a provision of 50% to 5% is required against regular loans. Apart from this, 20 percent against bad loans, 50 percent against doubtful loans and 100 percent against bad loans should be kept.
Banks are supposed to keep a provision of Tk 1 lakh 6 thousand 375 crore against regular and defaulted loans. Against this, a provision of Tk 81,104 crores has been kept. The deficit in this sector is Tk 25,271 crores. The respective banks have been placed in the list of weaknesses due to provision deficiency. Because, on the one hand, the defaulted loans of those banks are high, on the other hand, their income is low, so the transfer of money to the reserve fund is less. Due to these reasons, they are not able to make provision with money from profit or reserve fund.