SME Financing in Bangladesh:
Problems and Prospects

SME Financing in Bangladesh:
Problems and Prospects
Prepared for

Arafat Rahman
Assistant Professor
Institute of Business Administration
Jahangirnagar University

Prepared by

Tanjila Sharmin

201301029

Md. Mourshed Uddin

201303006

Naim Ahmad

201403020

Sayeed Ishtiaque Ahmed

201403027

Md. Sazzad Hossain

201403034

Course Participant

BUS 501: Managerial Communication (Section-02)

WMBA Program
Institute of Business Administration
Jahangirnagar University

December 20, 2014

Letter of authorization
November 23, 2014

Course Participant
BUS 501: Managerial Communication

The purpose of this report is to familiarize you with the basic techniques and principles associated with writing a formal business report so that you can build and enhance this specific written communication skill. This formal report will be coordinated with a formal presentation session on the topic of the report.
At a minimum, your report should include information related to the following issues:
Introduction to the Industry/Sector/Area – What is the industry/sector/Area? What is the background of the industry/sector/Area in Bangladesh? Who are the major participants? You may show how the industry/sector/area is contributing to the economic development of the country. In this case, you must use industry-related data for the past three years (at least).
In case of export-oriented industries, you must use export performance for the last three years (at least), or the latest available data.
Describe any known issues surrounding the industry that might be related to the topic of the report.
A conclusion summarizing the main points of the report.
Use both commercial and academic resources. Use at least 10 references in your report from academic and industry-related sources. Out of these references, at least three must be from academic sources. Where appropriate, you should incorporate charts, graphs, or other visual aids to illustrate the facts you present in your report.
Based on the above-mentioned details, you are authorized to prepare and submit the report on the selected issue. The submission date of the report is December 13, 2014;
01:30 pm sharp. You need to submit a soft copy of the respective report to assignment.ar.ibaju@gmail.com specifying your group’s detail.

Sincerely,

Arafat Rahman
Course Instructor
BUS 501 (Section-02); WMBA Program
Fall 2014 Semester

December 20, 2014
Arafat Rahman
Assistant Professor
Institute of Business Administration
Jahangirnagar University

Subject: Submission of Report.

Dear Sir,

We are pleased to submit the report that you asked for & gave us the authorization to work on
“SME Financing in Bangladesh: Problems and Prospects”. This report is an essential part of our course; we tried our best to work on it carefully and sincerely to make the report informative.

The study I conducted enhanced our knowledge to make an executive report. This report has given us an exceptional experience that might have immense uses in the future endeavors and we sincerely hope that it would be able to fulfill your expectations.

We have put our sincere effort to give this report a presentable shape and make it as informative and precise as possible. We thank you for providing us with this unique opportunity. We hope and pray that the mistakes will be kindly excused.

Sincerely yours,

Tanjila Sharmin

201301029

Md. Mourshed Uddin

201303006

Naim Ahmad

201403020

Sayeed Ishtiaque Ahmed

201403027

Md. Sazzad Hossain

201403034

Course Participant
BUS 501: Managerial Communication (Section-02)
WMBA Program
Institute of Business Administration
Jahangirnagar University

Table of Contents

Title

Page No.

Executive Summery

vii

1. Introduction

1

1.1 Definition of SME

1

1.2 Background of SME

2

1.3 Problem Statement

3

2. Objectives of the study

3

3. Methodology

3

4. Literature review

4

5. SMEs in Bangladesh

4

5.1 SMEs Number and Success

5

5.2 Importance of SMEs in Bangladesh

5

6. Scopes of SMEs in Bangladesh
6.1 Arranging Training Programmes
7. Finding and Analysis

6
7
8

7.1 Problem Analysis

8

7.2 Prospects Analysis

10

8. Recommendations

12

9. Conclusion

14

References

i

Table of Figures

Title
7.1: Role of government and private institutions

Page No.
12

Table of Tables

Title

Page No.

1.1: Criteria of small SMEs

1

1.2: Criteria of medium SMEs

2

7.1: Main obstacles citied by entrepreneurs for accessing formal financial sector
7.2: Reasons for taking credits by SMEs

9
11

Executive Summary
Small Enterprise means an entity, ideally not a public limited company. The role of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is indispensable for overall economic development of a country particularly for developing countries like Bangladesh.
Since this sector is labor intensive with short gestation period, it is capable of increasing national income as well as rapid employment generation, achieving
Millennium Development Goals especially eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, gender equality and women empowerment. SME sector has played a vital role in economic development of some prosperous countries of Asia. Our neighbor countries have also given due importance on SME.

There are lots of sectors of SME in our country by which men and women can change there economic condition. According to economic census and
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics almost 118 percent change occurs in economy till 2013. So, as a least LDC county government should more finance in SME.
Bangladesh is highly resourceful with so many natural asset and also agricultural, electronics, automobiles, garments, foods, raw materials, hardware and others products are highly renowned in our country. Taking into account the contribution of those sectors, SMEs account for about three-quarters of total employment in manufacturing.

Bangladesh Bank has already introduced several schemes and programmes to flourish and expand SME Enterprises. Refinance scheme funded by Bangladesh
Bank, IDA and ADB has been facilitated for the development of SME Sector.
Indeed, higher rate of interest is a major hindrance, but availability of adequate fund is very much important. That is why, Bangladesh Bank is committed to facilitate SME credit through refinance window. We provided a list of tentative problems faced by small businesses to rank them according to their merit as per the entrepreneurs' real experiences. We also provided the problems which are

vii

high sunk cost for obtaining loan, malpractices in sanctioning loan and lack or managerial capacity.

SMEs will continue to be the major driving force for income and employment generation in Bangladesh. The future for entrepreneurship appears to be very bright. We are living in the age of the entrepreneur, with entrepreneurship endorsed by government, business community, educational institutions, society, and corporations. Financing of SMEs in Bangladesh is the need of the hour to raise the standard of living of the people of our country. The loan application and disbursement procedure of SME is perplexing. Also the financial institutes should develop an official credit-rating system in easier way. Government should take adequate measures to ensure the uninterrupted supply of raw materials for
SMEs.

The government should define a secure and pragmatic policy for the development of SMEs in the country. In order to frame a policy for SMEs, data collection needs to be updated. Provision should be made to develop separate and specialized institutions in three areas: (a) finance, (b) technology, and (c) skill development, in addition to rationalizing existing policies and institutions.
The concept of public private partnership in the sphere of development and growth of SMEs can also be explored.

The SME sector of Bangladesh need to be widened but depth has to be achieved in true sense. SMEs provide vital linkages to larger enterprises, particularly in the high-growth export sector, and also form part of the core business activities in both rural and urban areas. Bangladesh government should continue to give more focuses on some areas. The SMEs of Bangladesh will get a boost if the suggested measures are implemented.

viii

1. Introduction
SME means Small and Medium Enterprises. Small & Medium Enterprise (SME) plays a pivotal role in the economic growth and development of a country.
Bangladesh is an agricultural based country, where around 85% (Azam,
Chowdhury, & Islam, 2013) people are related with activities of agriculture, in this perspective Bangladesh can achieve industrialization through agriculture based small and cottage industry to start aggressively. Small and medium enterprises
(SMEs) make up the largest portion of the employment base in many developing countries and, indeed, are often the foundation of the local private sector.

1.1. Definition of SME
Small Enterprises: Small Enterprises are independently owned and operated business, whose owner(s) exercises close control over operations and decisions.
The equity is not publicly traded and business financing is personally guaranteed by the owner(s). Typically small businesses are those who employ less manpower and whose asset size is also not big. In most cases these are not dominant player in respective fields of business. Bangladesh Bank defined SMEs through a circular ref. no. SMESPD Circular No-01 dated 19 June, 2011 in line with the Industrial policy 2010 as follows:

Table 1.1: Criteria of small SMEs. (Roy, June 30, 2012)

Serial

Sector

Employed

Land and Building

Manpower

(Tk.)

No.

Fixed Asset other than

(not above)

01.

Manufacturing

BDT 50 lac to 10 crore

25 to 99

02.

Services

BDT 5 lac to 1 crore

10 to 25

03.

Trading

BDT 5 lac to 1 crore

10 to 25

1

Medium Enterprises: Medium Enterprises are those, whose asset size and manpower is higher than Small enterprises, but less than local corporate. The
Maximum limit of asset and manpower differs among countries. Local manufacturing units often fall under Medium Enterprises. SME definition has been in terms of fixed assets and no. of employees of three major sectors: service, manufacturing and trading but the present definition which was recommended by Better Business Forum and accepted as a uniform one by
Ministry of Industry and Bangladesh Bank included Cottage and micro industry as SME in Bangladesh. Bangladesh Bank defined SMEs through a circular ref. no. SMESPD Circular No-01 dated 19 June, 2011 in line with the Industrial policy
2010 as follows:

Table 1.2: Criteria of medium SMEs. (Roy, June 30, 2012)

Serial

Sector

Employed

Land and Building

Manpower

(Tk.)

No.

Fixed Asset other than

(not above)

01.

Manufacturing

BDT 10 crore to 30 crore

100 to 250

02.

Services

BDT 1 crore to 15 crore

50 to 100

03.

Trading

BDT 1 crore to 15 crore

50 to 100

1.2. Background of SME
After Liberation of Bangladesh, intensive efforts were undertaken to accelerate the rate of industrialization in the country. Small and medium enterprises have been recognized as one of the most important means for providing better economic opportunities for the people of least developing countries like
Bangladesh. The contribution of small and medium enterprises in the solution of these problems is beyond doubt, provided they are organized and run on scientific basis. Small and medium enterprises are particularly suitable for

2

densely populated countries like Bangladesh where SME sector can provide employment with much lower investment.

1.3. Problem Statement
Small and Medium Enterprise which has contributed significantly to Bangladesh’s
GDP and export earning, can do still better with hand holding and support services. They have always been short of business support and regulatory and financial assistance. The financial sector has been providing only 10 percent
(Anonymous, 2013) of their overall credit to SMEs. The commercial banks provide credit only to their well established and large scale trading and manufacturing customers, because it is easy to handle and convenient to support for them.

2. Objectives of the study
a. To detect the problems of SME financing.
b. To identify the prospects of SME in the economy in Bangladesh.
c. To provide necessary recommendations to overcome the problems.

3. Methodology
Methodology is the most important component in any study proposal since it explains the procedures and methods through which a particular study will be carried out. This chapter includes discussion on data requirements, sample selection, data analysis, limitations etc. This is basically a desk research. Most of the data has been collected from secondary sources. So the researchers work has been based on published information and data available in any form such as books, journals, magazines, newspapers etc. devoted to SME sector. Secondary information has been collected from Ministry of Industries, SME foundation,
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Financial Institutions, Bangladesh Bank and
3

from other SME related organizations. We have tried to analyze the performances of SMEs by applying simple statistical analysis.

4. Literature Review
Under Bangladesh bank regulation state-owned commercial banks and private owned commercial banks are the target of SME loan disbursement. 40% (Azam et al.) of total loans are reserved for the small entrepreneurs because it is treated as core media of reducing unemployment. The solutions rest in a combined set of actions along the lines. In the FSS 2020 work on SME development it was presented that the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in the east have started refocusing their attention on SMEs to enhance their role in bringing about structural changes in their economies (Azam et al.). There are clear interconnectedness, partnership and continuity with the formal sector – maintaining a two way flow of labor, goods, finances etc between the two sectors. In Bangladesh rapid transformation of the informal sector may not be possible, feasible and/or sustainable.

5. SMEs in Bangladesh
The Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in the east have started refocusing their attention on SMEs to enhance their role in bringing about structural changes in their economies. For Bangladesh SMEs have assumed special significance for poverty reduction programmes and potential contribution to the overall industrial and economic growth. Some of the constraints that have been hampering SME growth and to provide some pointers for the future.

Bangladesh is at present largely engaged in the manufacture of common consumer goods, requiring rather simple technologies that are predominantly labour-intensive and that do not require a very high degree of skills to produce.
As has been stated earlier, most of these are not competitive in quality or cost,
4

and they will impose tremendous strain on the patriotism of domestic consumers to keep on patronizing them for long by paying higher prices.

5.1. SMEs Number and Success
No one knows for sure how many SMEs there are in Bangladesh today. It was around 1978 (Mintoo, 2006) that the BSCIC (Bangladesh Small and Cottage
Industries Corporation), under the Ministry of Industries conducted a survey to find out the number of cottage and small industries of the country. In spite of the question about the validity and dependability of the survey, in absence of any other effort by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) or any other agency, this initiative did provide a useful benchmark but it was never updated.

5.2. Importance of SMEs in Bangladesh
Small & Medium Enterprise (SME) plays an important role in the economic growth and development of Bangladesh. Actually, SME works as the platform for job creation,

income

generation,

and

development

of

forward

and backward industrial linkages and fulfillment of local social needs. SMEs occupy a unique position in the economy of Bangladesh. Mainly private sector development depends on them.

In view of present economic development effort in Bangladesh the SME sector plays an important role. To put it simply, SMEs are the heart of the industrial sector of the country, employs the bulk of the working population and are owned by Bangladeshi entrepreneurs. They provide a huge range of goods and services to the Bangladeshi population, especially in the rural areas, alongside providing vital support in the production chain to large industries. From the above discussion, we can say that SMEs are playing an important role in our economy in various ways.

5

In ready made garments (RMG) industries (knit) circular machines are used for knitting of the items. The circular machines can also be set at household level to perform job works to feed RMG industries for ultimate export of T/Polo Shirts etc.
This is a subcontracting system where RMG industries supply yarns to the entrepreneurs having circular machines. Shoe making by small industries as job works of big shoe companies like BATA is a glaring example of SME product.
BATA supplies raw materials to lots of small factories at household level in
Dhaka city. SMEs are a fundamental part of the economic fabric in developing countries like Bangladesh, and they play a crucial role in furthering growth, innovation and prosperity. (Hossain, 2008).

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play a major role in economic development in every country. Studies indicate that in both advanced economies and developing countries SMEs contribute on average 60 percent of total formal employment in the manufacturing sector.

6. Scopes of SMEs in Bangladesh
Bangladesh has lots of opportunities to develop in SME sectors.
1. Electronics Sectors- Electronics and Electrical, Software development, web-designing, Auto CAD, small electronics workshop, batteries, light engineering, handicrafts, hand-operated welding etc.
2. Mechanical Sectors- Automobiles, basic metal engineering, small scale chemical, transportation (including automobiles),
3. Food and Groceries Sectors- Fast food (BFC, CCF etc), food processing, Wholesales shops (like agora, Swapno, best buy), dry food processing, frozen food, food linkage industries etc
4. Agriculture Sectors- Rice, jute, vegetables, fertilizer, poultry farming, fisheries, vegetable seed farming, floriculture and agro-forestry, agrobased industries, multilateral, jute goods, silk industries, fruit processing,

6

5. Others Sectors- Textiles, paper, steel, cement, chemical, pharmaceutical industries, leather, ceramics, rubber industries, paper printing, non-metal mineral products, cinema and photography, pathological laboratories etc.

On the other hand, specialized textile industries (including garments), backward linkage industries, small fabrication industries, ginning and baling, construction industries, furniture, and many other sectors are included in the SMEs. But there are 11 booster sectors of SMEs which are Development Engineering and Metal
Works,

Agro-processing/Agri-business/plantation

agriculture/specialist

farming/tissue-culture and related business, leather-making and leather goods,
Knitwear and ready-made garments, Plastics and other synthetics, healthcare and diagnostics /Cosmetics/Toiletries and Fashion-rich personal effects, wear and consumption goods are also known as small and medium industries.

6.1. Arranging Training Programmes
The SME sector in Bangladesh faces problems both from supply side and demand side. However, to address the supply side problems, three refinance schemes of Bangladesh Bank are already in place. Besides, the banks/financial institutions have fixed target for disbursement in the current year. The existing main problem of the demand side, on the other hand, includes: marketing of products, lack of skill and knowledge of the entrepreneurs to improve quality of products, absence of SME information data base etc.
In order to develop genuine small and medium entrepreneurs,
1. It is essential to arrange trade fairs of the SME products matching buyersupplier improving the quality of product and package design,
2. Workshop and training on technology and design development.
3. The commercial banks and international donor agencies will be requested to arrange training on entrepreneurship development where Bangladesh Bank will play the supporting role.

7

4. Besides, institutions like BBTA, BIBM, DCCI, FBCCI, NASCIB, BWCCI,
SME Foundation will be requested to arrange training Programmes on the development of technology, skill and marketing of SME products.
5. The banks and financial institutions will incorporate the implementation status of such training Programmes in their annual report.
If we take those initiatives SME will be develop in our country. As well as we can contribute in our economy.

7. Finding and Analysis
The survey covered some major small and medium enterprise businesses that are from Trading & Traders, Agro Processing Products Import & Export, Wood &
Steel Furniture, Sea Services Company, Importer Exporter & Commercial Agent in International Market, General & Merchant Commission Agent.

7.1. Problem Analysis
In questionnaire survey from a secondary source, we provided a list of tentative problems faced by small businesses to rank them according to their merit as per the entrepreneurs' real experiences. We also provided the problems which are high sunk cost for obtaining loan, malpractices in sanctioning loan and lack or managerial capacity. The detailed list is exhibited in table- 1 according to their importance. 8

Table 7.1: Main obstacles citied by entrepreneurs for accessing formal financial sector. (Chowdhury, 2012)

Obstacles

Importance

High Interest rate

3.67

Excessive Security Requirement

2.90

Insufficient Working Capital

2.81

Complexity of documents

2.42

Long Loan processing time

2.17

Unstructured financial information

1.88

Financial institutions negligence

1.29

High sunk cost Loan

1.11

Malpractice in sanctioning loan

0.83

Lack of Managerial Capacity

0.36

From above table, it is clear that high interest rate is the most- significant problem according to the perception of the entrepreneur’s followed by security and guarantee, working capital requirement, Complexity of documentation etc.
Among the problems high interest rate has the highest mean 3.67 signifying the major obstacle in the opinion of the respondents. The values against high interest rate have the lower standard deviation which indicates consistency in ranking the problem. The second highest mean is 2.90 with the security and guarantee.
Although it has been repeatedly emphasized by the central bank to lend money to the small enterprises with little or no collateral, financial institutions are reluctant to lend without collateral securities which is observed from the table where the respondents put higher values in regard to the excessive security and guarantee requirements. The third highest mean remains with the problem of working capital which is consistent with the prior researches in the field. The small entrepreneurs suffer a lot due to lack of available working capital. The fourth important problem is documentation. As evident in earlier literatures, small entrepreneurs cannot approach the formal financial institutions due to rigid
9

documentation requirement. The next important problem, I identified is the processing time required to disburse the credit. The respondents opined that the average loan processing time should be around 15 days. Although during the survey I have found that a few of the financial institutions are taking as little as 5 working days to disburse the credit but most of the institutions, due to lack of their internal capacity, cannot deliver the services so promptly. The reality is that if the institutions take longer time for loan processing, it would not serve their purpose especially for the clients who need immediate finance according to the opinion of the respondents; the other two problems are less significant as they have given lower score against them. The unstructured financial information, the responses have lower standard deviation indicating less variation of their opinion.
But regarding management capacity there is significant variation among the rankings provided by the respondents.

7.2. Prospects Analysis
The prospects of people are to start their business, procure equipment from local markets, buy raw material from local markets etc.
There are many reasons for taking credit from SMEs sector. The main reason for taking credit is to improve their business. A table is giving below to show why people take SMEs loan:

10

Table 7.2: Reasons for taking credits by SMEs. (Azam et al. 2013)

Reasons for seeking credits

% of Respondents

To start the business.

20%

To rent/lease premises

00%

To procure equipment from local markets

20%

To procure equipment from international

10%

Markets
To procure raw material from local markets

10%

To facilitate works in process

30%

To build inventory

00%

To hire skilled labour

10%

To ensure quality control/ISO certificate

00%

To finance equity share

00%

Total

100%

The table 7.2 shows that there are at least ten reasons for which SMEs seek loans from financial institutions. The first reason is to initiate the business. Nearly
20 percent of the SMEs took credit to start their business. Nearly 20 percent clients seek loans to procure equipment from local markets.10 percent are for to procure equipment from international market and 30 percent are for to facilitate work in process.

SME sector need bank loan for established their business. From a survey shows that bank offer loan for maximum 2 years. (Azam et al.)

We found from a survey that on average it took 2-3 months for an SME to get their loan money for starting the business. It’s a long time for getting the loan. It is needed to shorten the time. (Azam et al.)

11

The government or the private institutions can play a better role so that the outcomes from the interactions between players from both sides are maximized.
A figure is given below to show matter:

Role of government and private institutions

% of Respondents

70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Need a public private partnership Govt. should provide mortgage free loan up to a limit

Should set up an special fund by the
Govt.

Developing skilled manpower Figure 7.1: Role of government and private institutions. (Azam et al.)

Figure 7.1 shows that 60% SME entrepreneurs think that government should provide mortgage free loan up to a limit to the major SME entrepreneurs.20% responses that it is necessary to set up a special fund by the government to support the entrepreneurs when they are in crisis.

8. Recommendations
The following suggestions are recommended for the development of SMEs:
•

The loan application and disbursement procedure of SME is perplexing.
So the commercial banks and financial institutions must have to take necessary measures to make it easier. Government, financial institutions and non-government Organizations (NGOs) may take necessary steps to ensure uninterrupted financial support to the prospective SMEs in
Bangladesh.

12

•

The financial institutes should develop an official credit-rating system in easier way, even if in a limited manner, as soon as possible so that they can have some idea about the reliability of their SME clients.

•

Government and financial institutions may provide adequate finance for modernization, expansion and technological advancement of SMEs.

•

The public commercial banks and Bangladesh Bank also have SME funds or separate SME sectors, but, according to the private banks, these are considered highly inefficient and corrupted. In fact, their practice of corruption has actually affected the loan structure of private banks. As such, the private or commercial banks require urgent cooperation with the government and public banks to decide on a uniform loan structure.

•

Government should take adequate measures to ensure the uninterrupted supply of raw materials for SMEs. We have observed that a large portion of SME organizations are facing lack of working capital. So it is recommended that commercial banks/ financial institutions may extend working capital financing to the prospective SMEs.

•

SME foundation may take appropriate marketing tools to popularize the
SME products. Like Dhaka International Trade Fair it may try to organize a yearly trade fair for SME products.

•

For encouraging women entrepreneurship government should:
a. Involve women entrepreneurs in policy formulation and implementation.
b. Arrange funds for women entrepreneurs.
c. Provide necessary training to women entrepreneurs in rural and urban areas of Bangladesh.

•

Government should establish a credible certification authority especially for SMEs, so that this sector can obtain a technical evaluation of the quality of their products within a shortest possible time. The certification of the authority should be accepted world-wide. Govt. may also provide assistance to SMEs during the certification process and promote the importance of product certification for international acceptance among the
SMEs.
13

•

Relevant associations of Chamber of Commerce and Industries should take the leadership role in promoting SMEs training and development.

9. Conclusion
Now a days the SME sector of Bangladesh has grown rapidly. In fact the SME sector of Bangladesh need to be widened but depth has to be achieved in true sense. SMEs provide vital linkages to larger enterprises, particularly in the highgrowth export sector, and also form part of the core business activities in both rural and urban areas. The Performance of SMEs in Bangladesh is found significantly below the level of international standard. The sector has to be made investor friendly; otherwise the depth of the SME sector can not be achieved.
Although the government of Bangladesh has taken some initiative in ensuring the growth of SMEs but those steps are not enough at all. But the government has shown its positive attitude towards this sector. Bangladesh government should continue to give more focuses on some areas, such as financing, providing infrastructure facilities, framing appropriate legal framework, establishing national quality policy etc. We are quite optimistic that the SMEs of Bangladesh will get a boost if the suggested measures are implemented. The objectives of the study are fulfilled despite some limitations. The problems are identified in this report through detailed analysis of collected data. If the problems can be solved, the transaction between SMEs and financial institutions will be increased.

14

References
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