LARKANA, April 16: The president, Habib Bank Limited, Dr Zakir Mehmood on Wednesday said that the bank would reduce mark up rate on paddy and rice from 46pc to 38pc from year next season.
Speaking at a reception of Larkana Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) here on Wednesday he said that the HBL had focused on agriculture and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and loaning in this direction would be increased.
Responding to the demands of the LCCI, he said within next two months two branches of HBL in Larkana would have online banking facilities and it would swell the number of branches with online facility to350.
He said that “Khasira loans” had not been stopped but the procedures were made more fool-proof. He declined to defer recovery drive in the calamity-hit areas.
Regarding the unreliable insurance policy, Dr Zakir said that in future a list of the approved insurance companies would be provided to the traders and they would choose among them and the loans of good paymasters would be revived without any hindrances.
Muhammed Aslam Shaikh, president of the chamber, and Iqbal Shaikh chairman banking sub-committee welcoming the guest demanded for reducing cash finance restrictions from 50pc to 25pc and restoring the Zonal Office of HBL in Larkana.
Addressing a Press conference in Sukkur, the president, Habib Bank, Zakir Mehmood said that the bank has introduced a number of incentive packages to attract investment in interior Sindh, which will ultimately help in overcoming unemployment problem.
Besides, he said 25 branches of HBL in Sukkur region were being upgraded, whereas Bank’s 110 branches had been equipped with online facility. Bank had also planned to bring another 240 branches on its online network in next one year, he said.
He said that as per State Bank’s guideline the mark-up on seasonal loans for ginning, rice, oil and ghee and flour mills had been fixed at 33 paisa. He said Sindh’s economy mainly depended on its agriculture, and therefore HBL was focussing on Agriculture related industries.
He asked the growers and traders to benefit from the macro economic situation, in which they would get concessional loans on easy mark ups. They should set up agro-based units and small and medium units for which Habib Bank would offer substantial loans, he said.
Earlier, the HBL president addressed the traders, growers and ginners of Sukkur region.
Talking to newsmen at a dinner in Shikarpur, the president of Habib Bank said that HBL was the singular commercial bank which had served a lot to encourage the trade and business to upgrade the socio-economic conditions of the country.
The bank has provided 40 times more financial support to meet the development requirements of economy than other commercial banks. The dinner was hosted by prominent industrialist and former Provincial Minister, Iftikhar Ahmed Soomro.
Replaying to a question the HBL president said that the local branch managers of the bank had been authorized to advance loans to small traders and businessmen.
