20000311

Cottage industry chamber

advised to

work out details of

bank plan

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan has advised Pakistan Small Chamber of Commerce and Cottage Industry (PSCCCI) to prepare a comprehensive feasibility of a bank proposed by it.

A.R. Chughtai, Deputy Governor of the SBP said that the chamber must decide if it would like to set up a commercial bank or a cooperative bank. After this, the bank needs to be registered accordingly with the concerned authority.

The deputy governor was asked by Dr. Khawar Jameel, the Managing Director of Sindh Small Industries Corporation to guide, and give details of the procedural and legal requirements in setting up the bank, which was envisaged by the chamber in a meeting with the SSIC held on Thursday.

Chughtai said that some of the important factors to be considered would be: (1) purpose and extent of operation; (2) identity; (3) identification of resources base; (4) sponsors; (5) target customers; (6) products and services offered; and (7) ways to form credibility to attract deposits and existing competition and strategies to fight competition.

Chughtai also spoke about the micro credit banking system introduced by the government and assured the delegates of all support, assistance and cooperation in every way, possible. But, he asked the chamber to hold the thought because something good was expected to come up in the very near future.

Dr. Khawar Jameel, during his meeting with the chamber, elaborated the role of SSIC, and especially briefed the chamber about two loaning schemes: Self Employment Scheme (SES) and Supervisory Credit Scheme (SCS).

He also elucidated the corporation's recently-increased transparent system of working for small industrial development programme.

Bashir Miandad, the Chairman of PSCCCI, told him about functioning of the chamber and said that the commercial banks were catering mainly to the large industries, and thus, the existence of a bank for small and cottage traders and industries including the investors of medium scale industrial units and enterprises, was badly needed.

He said that the nearly 2.2 million people registered with PSCCCI might easily accumulate funds for establishment of the proposed bank, to provide financial assistance to new industrial projects. The proposed bank is envisaged to facilitate the expansion of existing projects, diversification, technology improvement, modernisation, improvement in quality, domestic and international marketing environmental management and rehabilitation of sick units.

Miandad said that PSCCCI intended to introduce single window scheme and composite loan scheme to cover small road transport operators, women entrepreneurs, self-employment of ex-service men and widows of ex-servicemen and other small traders and cottage manufacturers.