Lahore

Punjab Provincial Cooperative Bank Limited has released production loans through cooperative societies for kharif crops 2015 throughout the province, providing loans of Rs2.5 billion during first five month of the current fiscal year.
The bank had fixed the target of issuing loans of Rs329.70 million for Lahore Zone, Rs291.17 million for Gujranwala, Rs76.04 million for Rawalpindi, Rs160.32 million for Sargodha, Rs389.93 million for Faisalabad, Rs385.55 million for Bahawalpur, Rs275.25 million for Multan, Rs420.21 million for Sahiwal and Rs172.05 million for Dera Ghazi Khan Zone.
In addition, the bank had issued midterm livestock loans for purchasing tractors and other agriculture equipments and agriculture loans against gold ornaments. The Bank released loans of more than Rs11 billion rupees during the last fiscal year of 2014-15.
Punjab Provincial Cooperative Bank Limited President and Chief Executive Officer Muhammad Ayyub, while talking to The Nation, said that the bank will soon start releasing loans for biogas plants, mobile milk chillers, rural business finance, women industrial cooperative livestock phasing and other sectors.
Muhammad Ayyub has said that in order to provide full menu of financial services to Punjab target market, the bank has created a distribution network of 151 online branches with ATM, IBFT & UBPS facility. “We are developing roots in our community not only by lending but also providing full range of financial services. In days to come, we hope to be exemplars of an effective, sustainable and successful institutionalized strategy that keeps its eyes on the horizon of positive global change.”
He said that the campaign for recovery of loans particularly of non-performing loans has been accelerated. He said that the Bank is issuing loans for livestock, tractor purchase and the other agricultural equipment. Under recovery drive, the PPCBL had achieved the target of recovery of over Rs1 billion loans by Dec 2015 last while the bank would recover more than Rs2.035 billion by June 2016.
The PPCL CEO said that bank has recovered around Rs412 million in about five months of the current fiscal year.
The bank has offered incentives to the defaulters for early payment. The loans of sugarcane co-operative societies are not part of the recovery drive. Bank President Muhammad Ayub said the bank launched the drive on an emergency basis and urged the defaulters to deposit their loans to avoid legal action.
“At The Punjab Provincial Cooperative Bank Limited, we have an ambitious vision. Our primary goal is to change the way that the un-banked sector views finance and to empower them with the basic right to avail of services that provide a secure, innovative, affordable and convenient method of integration into the world of financial services.” PPCBL aims to transform lives through establishing trust between ourselves and our customers, so that they never need to look elsewhere for a platform to rise above challenges and with which to fulfill their dreams of a brighter future, he added.
PPCBL president said that bank philosophy is that Cooperative Bank should not be viewed as specialized but rather a financial service with social impact, which enables the underprivileged to help themselves, with honour and dignity. Fresh avenues of potential markets arise when this source is tapped and commercial sources are the keys to transforming this industry from the development aid stage to a recognized and established position in the local and global realms. In order for unlimited growth to occur, the Cooperative Banking industry must be financially stable, and this of course requires the power of capital.
Given this trajectory, The Punjab Provincial Cooperative Bank Limited (PPCBL) is headed in the correct direction for fulfilling its vision of “empowering the un-banked”. We have developed a financially sustainable model to address the needs of the financially excluded.