Punjab govt makes Rs 80m from PDF

Staff Report

LAHORE: The government of Punjab has earned profit of Rs 80 million from the Punjab Development Fund (PDF).

Hamesh Khan, the chief operating officer of the Bank of Punjab, said this profit would be used for the development of the people of Punjab. He was speaking to reporters at the ground-breaking ceremony of the Sundar Industrial Estates (SIE)on Monday. Mr Khan said that the provincial government succeeded in selling PDF tickets worth Rs 200 million and the PDF had made Rs 80 million from the sales.

Mr Khan said that the Bank of Punjab had a total of 240 branches out of which 237 were operating in Punjab and that the bank would open six new branches this year. He also said that the bank was planning to open 20 new branches next year.

Responding to a question about the possibility of branches in India, he said that this was up to the government. He said that a couple of Pakistani banks were already operating in Indian Punjab and joint ventures could bear fruit if relations between the two countries improved.

Mr Khan said the BoP branch in Mardan, to be opened in collaboration with the Pakistan Tobacco Corporation (PTC), would be operational by the end of October and it would start providing loans to PTC-recommended farmers.

Mr Khan said that the bank would give loans, at seven percent interest, of up to 70 percent of the total cost to industrialists interested in establishing units in the SIE. The prospective industrialists would have to make a 30 percent down payment.

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