The Nature of Micro-Finance of Islami Bank & its Impact on Socio-Economic Development of Bangladesh: A Geographical Study

Abstract

Microfinance, like the breath of the poor, a broader concept and multidimensional aspects of Microcredit, now a days, has become a worldwide recognized, most popular, much favored, most powerful weapon and a latest panacea for poverty alleviation in the developed, least developed and developing countries of the world from North to South and East to West (European, American, Australian, Asian and African countries, e.g. India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bolivia, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Australia, Canada etc). Bangladesh has pioneered the Microfinance program which is now a well established poverty alleviating program, is being implemented to address different socio-economic activities across the world and now more than 70 (Seventy) countries of the world are practicing the Grameen Bank (GB) model (Majumder, 2002; Sorwar, 2007; Jinan, 2009). Thousands of Microfinance institutions are working in Bangladesh (like GB, BRAC, ASA and PROSHIKA) and these institutions mainly provides interest-based credit and the charged rate of interest is often exorbitantly high and as a result, the rural poor can not come out from the poverty trap. There is much controversy and debate on traditional Microfinance which is sometimes called a “Symbol of Modern Exploitation” and Dr. Yunus (Pioneer of Microfinance) has been regarded as “Blood Sucker of the Poor” by the many critiques and also by the present Government of Bangladesh (native country) for the last few years in their many occasional deliberations, though Bangladesh is called a “Birthplace of Microfinance” and a “Land of NGOs”. Besides, these are hardly any credit facilitating institutions that care about the moral and ethical development of the rural poor although, ethical standards have to be maintained not only in business sector but also in all aspects of life. Business and ethics should be interrelated (Jaim 1986; Ahmed and Shirazi, 2002; Mahamood, 2006; Islam, 2011; Reddy 2012). Keeping all this constraints and idea in view, Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (shortly & widely known as Islamic Bank in Bangladesh) has launched a Microfinance program named “Rural Development Scheme (RDS)” in 1995 creating a new platform for the poor people of Bangladesh. The prime objective of this program is to uplift the overall socio-economic plight of the rural poor. The program also provides welfare, moral and ethical services to the rural people of Bangladesh based on Islamic values and principles (Rahman, 2009). Presently, the scheme is being implemented through 209 Branches in 17,104 villages under 64 districts covering all 7-divisions of the country (Bangladesh). About 0.82 million group members including 0.53 million investment clients out of which 94% are female are involved in this scheme in 2013 (Annual Report of IBBL, 2013). The program has accumulated total savings of RDS member was Tk.4,377.98 million and investment outstanding was Tk.13,730.92 million among the 5,23,235 clients with 99.70% rate of recovery in 31.12.2013. Therefore, the study on “The Nature of Micro-Finance of Islami Bank & its Impact on Socio- Economic Development of Bangladesh: A Geographical Study” is very much significant from the standpoint of development. An assessment of the achievement of Microfinance Program of IBBL and its impact on socio-economic development including the changes of life style of the rural poor is a prime need. Basically, the main thrust of this study is to examine the nature & extent of Microfinance and to assess the major contribution of Microfinance of IBBL to the Beneficiaries under study. In order to conduct this study, primary data were exclusively collected from the 390 clients covered by 26 Branches of IBBL from 13 Consecutive Zones across the country to bring geographical diversity of the study based on Stratified Random Sampling Approach. Survey was conducted during the period from January 2013 to June 2013 and data were collected using two sets of pretested structured and semi-structured questionnaires (one set for the Microfinance Beneficiaries & another for the Bank Personnels). A great deal of observation was made by the researcher as well during the survey period. The data were analyzed using >2 test, Pearson’s Product Moment of Correlation Co-efficient (Correlation Matrix), Linear Regression Model, Ordinary Least Square (OLS) Model, Logit Model (LM) and also using 5-Points Scale of customer’s satisfaction assessment. In addition, SWOC of the program analyzed based on the important outcomes of the study. This study includes socio-economic, socio-political and sociodemographic profiles of the clients and also includes age, fertility, mortality, education, family size, marital status, total land size, occupation, family members involvement in on-farm and off-farm activities, value of household assets, training received by the clients, disbursement and repayment of investment and extent of utilization of Micro-investment. The results of this study revealed that the Microfinance Program of IBBL has significant and positive impact on socio-economic development & changes of Bangladesh including women empowerment and poverty alleviation. The study also revealed that this program have been able to reduce 54.60% poverty of the asset-less, collateral-less & distressed poor people under study and above 75% customers are satisfied with this program as the study revealed. So, undertaken this study on “The Nature of Micro-Finance of Islami Bank & its Impact on Socio-Economic Development of Bangladesh: A Geographical Study” is justified. Poverty alleviation is not a national issue of Bangladesh, it is a global and challenging issue, which is very much related with the governmental socio-economic related significant aspect which is directly related to the planning of any government and for this reason, in-depth study based on holistic approach is needed in this special field. It is hoped by the researcher that the outcomes of this study will help the researcher who are interested for further study on this new field, geography discipline, finance, banking & economics disciplines for better implication, design & improvement of the program for the national development planning and also to the Microfinance Practitioners including Islamic Microfinance Practitioners of the world and Bangladesh in particular. The interested researchers, especially geographers may further study on the crucial field and new market niche highlighting the regional inequalities and disparities of the program showing the developmental sides.