Federal Railways Minister Shamim Haider has lauded Pakistan Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation Limited (Picic) for indulging in activities like education as it was in the process of launching a full-fledged University of Financial and Management Sciences in Karachi which would cater to the entire Saarc region.
He expressed these views while addressing the inaugural ceremony of a branch of Picic Bank here on Saturday.
The Minister said that Picic senior management should be congratulated for opening this branch as 'financial supermarket'. He said that Picic was playing a key role in the industrial development of the country by providing a vast array of financial products and services. "Picic is an institution offering innovative value-added products and services to its clients under one roof justifying its claim 'truly a financial supermarket'," he said.
According to him, the turnaround of Picic and continuous improvement in its performance over the last seven years was a good example for others to emulate. It has set an example by acquiring a bank, now Picic Commercial Bank, which is thriving among other commercial banks of Pakistan.
He said it is a good sign that Picic has achieved all targets envisaged in Picic Vision 2005, much ahead of time in 2003, and added that it was also farsightedness of the Picic management that it has already documented its target in the form of Picic Vision 2008.
Mohammad Basheer Janmohammad, Vice-Chairman of Picic, said that they would support local businessmen and industrialists of Sheikhupura for loaning and other services, and their applications would be speedily processed. He assured them of their full co-operation and no 'bureaucratic treatment' would be meted out to them. "It is a commercial institution, run by professional people," he added.
According to him, Picic Board of Directors has approved a plan under which they decided not only to restrict themselves to borrowing and lending, but also to make it a real financial supermarket. Thus, Picic decided to indulge in commercial banking operations and established Picic Commercial Bank which has 76 branches nation-wide, while Picic has only 23 branches. Moreover, Picic took over ICP Lot B and ICP-SEMF funds from the Privatisation Commission which are now valued at Rs 11.4 billion, and they have formed a separate company for the management of these funds.
In order to extend its services, Picic established Picic Insurance Company on September 28 this year. "Picic is also concentrating on consumer products and is also working on SMEs," he added.
While appreciating the services of the Railways Minister, he pointed out that freight of trucks and tank lorries has become very high due to high oil prices. He said that if the railway could extend its services and became more efficient with door-to-door facility for transportation of goods with the help of road transport, it would be in the benefit of Pakistan Railways and the country as a whole.
Muhammad Ali Khoja, Managing Director of Picic, said that they have managed to shrink non-performing portfolio from 85 percent to 5-7 percent, after launching its first slogan 'Recover Picic through Recoveries'. He said that in 1996, it stood at 22 billion rupees which has been brought down to Rs 2 billion. "Moreover, in the last six years of loaning, Picic has faced no default situation. "It would be right to say that 'default culture' is a thing of the past," he added.
According to him, Picic has introduced various schemes to facilitate businessmen and without any hesitation they should approach Picic supermarket that offers both short and long term services. It was an honour to announce that targets set in Picic Vision 2005 was attained well ahead of its time frame in 2003, he said.
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