MULTAN, Oct 13th: MCCI President Sheikh Fazal Elahi has stressed the need for simplification of loan procedures for small & medium businesses and speed up their services to promote business and trade because Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) sector was contributing 78 per cent of the jobs in industrial sector, adding that its contribution was 35 per cent in preparation of value-added products and 25 per cent in exports. He was addressing an opening session of four-Day certified to borrow seminar jointly organised by Multan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI)and National Bank of Pakistan. Sheikh Fazal Elahi said that around 3.2 million SMEs were registered in the country, however, only 180,000 of them were availing financing facility from banks due to complicated procedure and unnecessary documentation. Chief Manager of SBP Multan Sarfraz Ahmed Nadeem said that the government was striving hard to meet financing requirements of the SME sector on softer terms and this four-day seminar for orientation of those associated with SME sector and to award certificates to them. The holders of these certificates would be given preference in extending the finance facility and would also be given assistance in file preparation and training.
NBP regional head Nasir Abbas said that loan seekers may face difficulty on first attempt as the bank also needed to secure their money. He added that NBP had almost all the financing schemes for every kind of SMEs.He said that SME help desk was operational at NBP's main branches and regional offices. Director Staff College Sultan Mehmood said that such seminars would help promote SMEs and added that special quota of loans had been allocated for underdeveloped areas particularly Balochistan province.
During question/answer session, NBP officers Farooq Hassan Executive Vice President, Zahid Mehboob, Vice President, Rehman Nazir(Islamic banking) and Muhammad Mughis said that Prime Minister's 'Kamyaab Jawan' scheme was launched. It had been proposed that young entrepreneurs should be offered loans in two categories, from Rs 50,000 to Rs 500,000, and from Rs 500,000 to Rs 5 million for a period of ten years at six percent mark up. Syeda Sarwat Zahra ,Tahira ,Sadaf Imran and acting Secretary-General of MCCI Muhammad Shafiq also spoke.
