Seven large borrowers, including AnonTex, Crescent, Ratanpur, and S Alam groups, account for 57 percent of the total default loans at Janata Bank, highlighting the risks lenders face if a handful of firms eat up most of the credit.

The borrowers hold Tk 14,210 crore out of the Tk 25,008 crore total defaulted loans of the state-run bank.

Of the seven, AnonTex's bad loans stood at Tk 7,708 crore, Crescent Group's at Tk 1,806 crore, Ratanpur Group's at Tk 1,227 crore, S Alam Group's at Tk 1,215 crore, and Rimex Footwear's at Tk 1,077 crore.

Chowdhury Group has bad loans of Tk 625 crore and Ranka Group Tk 552 crore, according to the published financial statements of Janata Bank.

AnonTex Group and S Alam Group defaulted in the last quarter of 2023, said a senior official of the bank.

He said that the bank is now in trouble because of the high defaulted loans.

At the end of last year, Janata Bank's default loans rose 64.55 percent to Tk 25,008 crore, the highest in the banking sector. It was Tk 15,197 crore in 2022.

The bad loans went up to Tk 30,495 crore in March this year, which accounted for 31 percent of the disbursed loans, sources told The Daily Star.

In 2023, garment exporter AnonTex's total loans taken from Janata Bank were Tk 7,755 crore. Of the sum, Tk 7,708 crore turned sour, according to the financial statement.

The lender recently classified the loans as defaulted retrospectively, in line with the central bank instruction as the banking regulator unearthed loan irregularities and scams related to AnonTex, said a senior official of the bank seeking anonymity.

In April, Bangladesh Bank ordered Janata Bank to cancel the Tk 3,359 crore interest waiver the lender had extended to AnonTex Group and asked it to classify Tk 7,708 crore as defaulted loans after an audit found forgeries and scams.

According to the financial statement, the state-run bank showed Thermax Group's Tk 1,700 crore and Sikder Group's Tk 829 crore loans as regular since writs petitions were filed with the High Court.

Chittagong-based industrial conglomerate S Alam Group's outstanding loans with Janata Bank were Tk 7,832 crore till December last year. Of the volume, Tk 1,215 crore defaulted.

In 2023, Janata Bank's total outstanding loans stood at Tk 91,158 crore, with 23 large borrowers taking Tk 69,583 crore, or 76.33 percent of the total.

Of the large borrowers, Beximco Group's outstanding loans were Tk 20,753 crore and state-run Bangladesh Agricultural Development Corporation (BADC) owed Tk 4,373 crore.

Another state agency, Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation's loans stood at Tk 3,623 crore, Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation's loans amounted to Tk 2,921 crore, and Orion Group's credit stood at Tk 2,854 crore.

Yesterday, The Daily Star tried to contact Janata Bank Managing Director Md Abdul Jabbar over the phone and sent texts via WhatsApp. He did not respond.

However, Jabbar told this correspondent two weeks ago that the bank has now stopped giving out large loans and was trying to recover the outstanding loans.

He had also said he was worried that the bank's bad loans would surge.

Contacted, SM Mahfuzur Rahman, chairman of Janata Bank, said the bank had classified the borrowers. He did not elaborate.

Janata was once one of the most reputed banks in Bangladesh, but its financial health started to worsen, thanks to a series of loan scams involving AnonTex and Crescent.

In 2017, the bad loans stood at Tk 5,818 crore, which skyrocketed to Tk 30,495 crore in March this year.

BB data showed that the bank had a capital shortfall of Tk 2,189 crore till June last year.

A recent central bank report showed that 75 percent of the bank's total loans are concentrated in five branches.