Defaulted loans in Bangladesh’s banking sector stood at Tk 5,44,831.88 crore as of December 31, 2025, Finance Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury told parliament on Monday (April 6).
He disclosed the figure in reply to a written question from Cumilla-4 lawmaker Md Abul Hasnat on the ninth day of the first session of the 13th Jatiya Sangsad.
Deputy Speaker Barrister Kayser Kamal chaired the sitting.
The finance minister also placed in the House a list of the top 20 loan defaulters, which includes several S Alam Group entities as well as Beximco and a number of other major business concerns.
The top 20 defaulters named by the minister were S. Alam Super Edible Oil Limited, S. Alam Vegetable Oil Limited, S. Alam Refined Sugar Industries Limited, S. Alam Cold Rolled Steels Limited, Sonali Traders, Bangladesh Export Import Company Ltd, Global Trading Corporation Limited, Chemon Ispat Limited, S. Alam Trading Company Private Ltd, Infinite CR Strips Industries Limited, Keya Cosmetics Limited, Deshbandhu Sugar Mills Limited, Power Pac Mutiara Keraniganj Power Plant Ltd, Power Pac Mutiara Jamalpur Power Plant Ltd, Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited, Karnafuly Foods (Pvt.) Limited, Murad Enterprise, CLC Power Company Limited, Beximco Communications Limited and Rongdhanu Builders (Pvt.) Ltd.
Focusing on recovery efforts, Amir Khasru said the government and Bangladesh Bank were taking a series of measures in line with the law.
He said these included quarterly meetings with the senior management of banks whose classified loans exceed 10 percent, adoption of bank-specific action plans to identify obstacles to recovery, and regular review of progress in recovering dues from the top 20 defaulters at bankers’ meetings organised by Bangladesh Bank.
He said Bangladesh Bank was also preparing guidelines on resolution strategies for banks with high classified loan ratios. Banks have been instructed to strengthen their legal teams and set a target of recovering at least 1 percent of each bank’s defaulted loan balance in cash by June 30, 2026 through alternative dispute resolution.
The minister added that the action plan also includes reviewing the agricultural loan rescheduling policy, publishing lists of defaulters and wilful defaulters, revising incentives for regular borrowers, and setting a maximum borrowing limit across the entire banking sector for individual borrowers.
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