Bangladesh Shilpa Rin Sangstha (BSRS) established on 31 October 1972 by the President's Order No. 128 of 1972 to provide credit facilities and other assistance to industrial concerns and to encourage and broaden the base of investment in Bangladesh. BSRS was vested with the undertakings of the Pakistan Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation Limited (PICIC), Investment Corporation of Pakistan, and National Investment Trust (NIT) located in Bangladesh. Later, on 16 March 1987, the Investment Advisory Centre of Bangladesh (IACB) was merged with BSRS. At the time of establishment, the authorised and paid up capital of BSRS was Tk 1,000 million and Tk 62.54 million respectively. The paid up capital was fully subscribed by the government. In subsequent years, both authorised and paid up capital were enhanced several times. On 30 June 2000, the amounts stood at Tk 2,000 million and Tk 700 million respectively. Before 1995, the organisation procured foreign currency funds in the form of lines of credit channeled by the government from various international and regional lending agencies. At present, all its funds are in local currency only.

Initially, BSRS provided medium and long-term credit facilities in both foreign and local currencies to private sector industrial projects with fixed costs of Tk 2 million and above. It provided underwriting, bridge financing and debenture financing assistance to public limited companies. It also financed public sector projects without any ceilings and undertook industrial promotional activities, especially in less developed areas. Later, the functional areas of BSRS expanded to cater to the changing financial needs of the economy. It started to provide equity finance, guarantees, deferred payments for machinery imported from abroad under suppliers' credit, guarantee and counter guarantee for loans, debts, credits, performance of contracts and financing arrangements with foreign lending agencies, as well as local banks and financial institutions for industrial concerns.

As a member of the Dhaka stock exchange, BSRS engages in trading of securities in primary and secondary markets. On 4 May 1997, it started commercial banking operations through a commercial bank branch located at dhaka. The commercial banking operation is directed towards deposit mobilisation, issue of pay order and SDR, collection through a clearing house and sale and purchase of ICB unit certificates, saving certificates and prize bonds. BSRS also works as banker to the public issue of shares and debentures of companies through commercial banks. It floated a closed end Mutual Fund in 1996 that had a paid up capital of Tk 50 million.

On 30 June 2000, the total cumulative disbursement of loans and advances provided by the Sangstha stood at Tk 17,853.59 million and was composed of long-term loans (Tk 17,470.57 million), secured overdrafts (Tk 0.26 million), bridge/underwriting loans (Tk 300.66 million), loans under investors' scheme (Tk 2.45 million), and staff loan (Tk 79.66 million). On the reference date, it had 195 projects in its long-term loan portfolio with total outstanding loans of Tk 17,605 million. Rates of interest charged by BSRS on its different types of loans varied between 11.50% and 16%, while the interest rates offered on deposits varied between 7.75% and 8.50%. The investment portfolio of the organisation in business year 1999-2000 included investment in government securities (Tk 20.07 million), in shares by listing status (Tk 201.68 million), in debentures (Tk 58.17 million), and in bonds by maturity (Tk 20 million). Of its total loan till 1999-2000, Tk 15,918.84 million or 89.13% has been classified as non-performing loans for which it had to make a total provision of Tk 2,538.3 million from its profit.

On 30 June 2000, the assets of the Sangstha were valued at Tk 18,834.46 million. Total off-balance-sheet assets amounted to Tk 70.97 million. Shareholders equity was Tk 1,455.65 million comprising paid up capital (Tk 700 million), statutory reserve (Tk 8.89 million), and other reserves (Tk 746.77 million). Cumulative net profit earned by the organisation in the 19 years of its operation since inception has been Tk 461.02 million. It contributed Tk 155.43 million to the national exchequer in 2000.

The management of BSRS is vested in a 9-member board of directors, including a chairman and a managing director appointed by the government. The managing director is the chief executive officer of the organisation. It has 350 employees, including executive officers of different cadres. BSRS has 20 operational departments under 4 divisions at its head office in Dhaka and a commercial branch. It also has 4 branch offices outside Dhaka, one each at chittagong, rajshahi, khulna and sylhet. [S M Mahfuzur Rahman]