PRO 11-12-2012_Layout 1 12/10/2012 11:59 PM Page 1
Tuesday, 11 December, 2012
NBP ups consumer financing limit while others go risk-averse
Jamali conjures food for thought Says growth of food industry necessary for high GDP
More loans available under Advance Salary, Cash in Gold products now g Over Rs 210b disbursed since 2002 among 1.5m govt employees g Disbursements against cash in gold grows beyond Rs 30.578b g NBP exceeds central bank’s Rs 44b farm loans target g Remittances up by 52pc to $ 741m during Jan-Sept 2012 g
KARACHI
T
STaFF RePORT
HE other commercial banks have whereas seen their bad debts against personal loans swelling to new highs during the recent years, the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Monday boasted to have disbursed over Rs 210 billion since 2002 with a negligible 1.6 percent infection ratio. Also, the NBP jubilantly declared to have its disbursements increased beyond Rs 30.578 billion against “Cash in Gold”, another consumer financing the bank offers to the middle class borrowers against the borrowers’ jewelry, “the best friend of women”. Further, the bank also witnessed an increase of 52 percent or $ 254.734 million in its $ 741 million contribution in the national kitty on account of worker remittances the bank channeled during Jan-Sep 2012.
These receipts were against $486.243 million of the same period in 2011. Another milestone the bank claims to have achieved is exceeding the central bank’s Rs 44 billion target on agriculture financing that made the NBP second largest disburser of the farm loans after ZTBL that has disbursed Rs 66 billion. Monday saw the NBP officials, here at a local hotel, announcing to have remodeled and re-launched two of the bank’s flagship consumer banking products named “NBP Advance Salary” and “Cash in Gold” by increasing the volume of financing. According to Adnan Adil Hussain, head of NBP’s consumer and retail banking division, the bank under the remodeled regime had enhanced its financing limit from Rs 490,000 to Rs 1 million and Rs 35,000 to Rs 40,000 against 10 gram of the deposited gold respectively for the Advance Salary and Cash in Gold products.
Online banking on the up ISLAMABAD: The use of internet banking has remarkably increased in the country with surging number of customers opted for hasslefree and rapid mode of money transactions through their banks. Showing 89 per increase in the service utility with a volume of money grew by 112 per cent in the first quarter of financial year 2011-12, Technology Times Reported. “Rs 84.85 billion were transferred through internet banking in Pakistan in Jul-Sep 2011 period, with 1.6 million number of transactions,” shows the State Bank of Pakistan’s “Payment Systems Review”. It explains that the money transferred through mobile-banking services were recorded at Rs 4.27 billion against the transactions of 1.6 million through services of different banks. Similarly, the mobile-banking services were also seen significant growth in utility by the customers, which shows the increasing reliability of the customers on the advanced payment system. The volume and value of overall e-banking transactions in the country during the quarter under review was recorded at 63.7 million and Rs.6.15 trillion respectively, showing a decrease of 3.9 per cent in the volume and 1.34 per cent in value as compared to the previous quarter. aPP
Adil was flanked by other divisional heads including Senior Vice President Farooq Hasan, Ahmed Liaquat, Tariq and others. “We have the accounts of around 1.8 million permanent government employees of which some 1.5 million have so far got loans worth over Rs 200 billion,” he told the well-attended press briefing. “There is no condition of grades (of the employees),” Adil added. The ratio of Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) against the bank’s personal loans stands at a nominal 1.6 percent against 15 percent of the market as the repayment mode against Advance Salary loans is based on monthly at-source deductions from the borrowers’ NBP account in 60 “easy” installments. “We don’t ask about the purpose of financing. Unlike other loans, its processing is speedy as if you have the required documents complete the money is transferred in 3 to 4 days,” Adil said.
About Cash in Gold, the NBP official said the product had the non-mark up based one and was introduced viewing the countrymen’s “cultural instinct” of preserving gold ornaments as a sign of tradition. “Gold has always been the best friend of women in our tradition,” Adil said. He said through the product the bank was able to avoid hoarding of the precious metal which is returned to the borrowers, as it is, after complete repayment. Adil told a questioner that the bank was also weighing its options to extend the financing facility to the contractual government employees. “In 2013 we plan to increase financing under Advance Salary by Rs 10 billion. And the facility would also cover the contract employees,” the banker said. Senior Vice President Farooq Hasan said financing limits of the two products was revised upward sensing the pressing needs of the country’s public sector employees.
Asian markets up after positive US, China data HONG KONG:Asian markets rose Monday as dealers cheered an improvement in the US unemployment rate and another batch of figures indicating China’s economy is emerging from a long slowdown. Investors appeared unmoved by figures confirming. Japan’s economy shrank in the three months to September, as traders keep their sights on Sunday’s general election, which is expected to see Yoshihiko Noda’s government ousted. Tokyo rose 0.25 percent by the break, Hong Kong added 0.58 percent, Shanghai was 0.26 percent higher, Sydney gained 0.26 percent and Seoul climbed 0.13 percent. Washington on Friday unveiled figures showing the economy added 146,000 jobs in November, up from a revised 138,000 in October. Expectations had been for just 80,000 jobs to be added. The Labor Department also said the unemployment rate dropped to 7.7 percent last month, its lowest since December 2008, from 7.9 percent in October. However, the data were tempered by a University of Michigan consumer sentiment index, which declined to 74.5 from November’s five-year-high of 82.7. Traders are also nervous about the lack of progress on Capitol Hill in talks aimed at averting the fiscal cliff of tax hikes and spending cuts due to take effect on January 1 and which would likely tip the economy into recession. agenCIeS
LAHORE aPP
Federal Minister for Science and Technology Mir Changez Khan Jamali on Monday said that food industry was the second largest industry and its growth was crucial for a high DGP ratio in the country. He was speaking at the 23rd Food Conference jointly organised by Pakistan Society of Food Scientists and Technologists and Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) at PCSIR Lab Complex on Monday. He said it was the need of the hour to strengthen liaison between the researchers and industries so that a quality product could be produced as per the standard of international market. He said that his ministry had undertaken scores of projects to uplift the quality of food which was necessary for a healthy generation. He was of his view that the growth of food industry would not only upgrade the GDP ratio but would also be helpful in poverty alleviation in the country. The minister said that food industry in the country had great potential and there was need to create a linkage among the concerned institutions including researchers. He urged the researchers to visit the flood-hit areas in Balochsitan and make research about the food crepes from sowing to market.Mir Changez Khan Jamali urged the media to highlight the research work of scientists so that a positive message could be conveyed to the society instead of the oft splashing breaking news. He said that media could play a role in developing positive values in the country. He said that there was a good time coming and we should be optimistic about the future. On the occasion, the Minister announced to regularise all the contractual and daily wages employees of the PCSIR and said that their monetary affairs would also be settled down in the current month.
We’ve got power, let’s share it SCCI for mutually beneficial Indo-Pak cross border power transfer LAHORE
Enhanced Indo-Pak economic ties could resolve core issues: ICCI
aPP
SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), Monday stressed the need for active pursuit of mutually beneficial power transfer between India-Pakistan, saying it would fully exploit their untapped resources, besides giving a boost to economy in the region. Talking to a high level 15 members delegation from Confederation of Indian Industry, SAARC CCI, VP Pak chapter and veteran trade leader Iftikhar Ali Malik said that given the severe power shortage in Pakistan and open access power transmission possibilities in India, there was a renewed interest in pursuing mutually beneficial cross border power transfer between the two countries. He said that in the late 1990s,Pakistan had surplus power generation mainly in the form of IPP and wanted to export to India through the nearest Dinanath sub station near Lahore ring road to the Patti Sub-station in Indian Punjab. But the aspiration did not materialise into reality due to price offered by India at that time. Malik said that traders of the two countries could fully benefit from open markets of either side for strengthening socio-economic conditions for the welfare of people in the region. “There is vast scope of close co-oper-
ation in food, agriculture, power, engineering, chemical, petroleum, livestock, dairy development, transfer of IT technology, construction industry and communication sectors”, he highlighted. Iftikhar Ali Malik said that SCCI, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) and other chambers would facilitate traders from India for joint ventures and establishing business outlets beneficial to the two countries. Managing Director, Braj Binani Group of Industries, India Vinod Juneja
expressed his interest to import cement, glass fibre and zinc products from Pakistan. He will hold meetings with his counterpart to work out the modalities. Meanwhile, other Indian traders Rajan Bedi,MD, and Gaurav Kumar,Director,SSB Enterprise India,said the group was keen to import gypsum,coal,cement and red chillies from Pakistan and discussions on quality of products and prices,commodities were underway. It was learnt that other members of Indian trade delegation representing engineering, construction, chemi-
ISLAMABAD: Peaceful and cordial relations between Pakistan and India are a prerequisite in promoting bilateral trade and economic relations and to exploit the full potential of each other’s comparative fortes in various fields. This was stated by Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) President Zafar Bakhtawari, during his visit to Amritsar, according to a press release received here on Monday. Addressing a gathering of industrialists, traders and media at International Trade Expo PITEX-2012 in Amritsar, Zafar Bakhtawari said Pakistan has been playing due role for peace in the region and want to have good relations with its neighbours. He said that Pakistan would like to see its neighbouring countries as strong, stable and prosperous states as well as growing prosperous Asia and specifically South Asia. Bakhtawari said that India was among the top 10 fastest growing economies and presenting the third world countries, therefore, India should maintain positive and healthy relations with all its neighbours including Pakistan. He said that it was worth mentioning that South Asian countries like Turkey, North Korea and Malaysia were also making progress and would be included in the top growing economies. ICCI president said that improving economic ties between Pakistan and India would help resolve other core issues and bring peace and prosperity in the region. He said that both the countries were endowed with immense human and natural resources and they should establish an atmosphere of mutual trust to harness these resources in order to strengthen their economies and uplift the living standard of their people. aPP cal and petroleum, agriculture, food and home appliances would be meeting Pakistani traders to study the scope of mutual co-operation in their respective sectors.
The visiting Indian delegation would also visit LCCI on December 12 for sector specific meetings with traders, importers and exporters.