KARACHI: The banks disbursed Rs326 billion agri loans during first nine months of current financial year against the Rs255.7 billion of last year.
The total disbursements made during July-March 2015, are 65.2% of the overall annual target of Rs500 billion and 27.5% higher than the loans given during the corresponding period of the previous year.
The outstanding portfolio of agri loans has also surged by Rs 31.6 billion or 11.2% i.e. from Rs281.1 billion to Rs312.7 billion at end March 2015 as compared to same period last year.
Five major banks as a group disbursed Rs167.4 billion or 66.3% of their annual target and two specialized banks (ZTBL & PPCBL) disbursed Rs 62.1 billion or 61.2% of their annual targets of Rs 101.5 billion. Fifteen domestic private banks collectively disbursed Rs 72.1 billion or 62.4% against their target of Rs 115.6 billion.
Seven Microfinance banks disbursed Rs 20.7 billion or 73.6% of their annual targets, however; the four Islamic banks as a group have already surpassed their annual targets by disbursing Rs 3.7 billion against the target of Rs 2.3 billion during the period under review.
Amongst the five major banks, MCB has achieved 80.5% of its annual target, UBL achieved 76.7%, HBL 75.3%, NBP 55.3% while ABL could achieve only 45.2% of its individual annual target. Under the specialized banks category, ZTBL disbursed Rs 56.2 billion or 62.4% against its target of Rs 90.0 billion while PPCBL disbursed Rs 5.9 billion i.e. 50.9% against its target of Rs 11.5 billion during the period under review.
Within fifteen domestic private banks, Bank of Khyber has achieved 90.4%, Faysal bank achieved 81.1%, JS bank 64.8%, NIB bank 58.5%, Sindh bank 56.3%, Bank Al Habib & Bank Alfalah 54.9% each, Soneri Bank 50.6%, Silk bank 48.8 %, Summit bank 46.8% while Askari bank and Bank of Punjab could achieve only 40.9% each of their annual targets during Jul-Mar 2015, however Standard Chartered Bank has already surpassed its annual target of Rs 2.5 billion by disbursing Rs 3.8 billion during the period.
Under Microfinance category, seven Microfinance banks as a group have disbursed Rs 20.7 billion or 73.6% against their annual target of Rs 28.2 billion while under Islamic mode of financing, 4 Islamic banks collectively disbursed Rs 3.7 billion against their targets of Rs 2.3 billion to agri borrowers.