Jaywant Pandoo | Managing Director, Development Bank Of Mauritius Ltd
The Development Bank of Mauritius Ltd as a development finance institution has as its mission to assist in the socio economic development of the country. Port Louis Digest has met Mr J Pandoo, who is the Managing director of the DBM since April 2020 to know more. Mr Pandoo has had a rich career at the Bank of Mauritius and also internationally as he has served as Member of the Audit & Risk Committee of the International Islamic Liquidity Management Company, headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He is also a regular guest speaker at International Fora.
Mr Pandoo , you joined the DBM in the midst of the pandemic, how did this go through with all the inconveniences?
I joined the DBM in April 2020, as you rightly said, in the midst of COVID-19 pandemic and had to work from home in the first weeks which was a very challenging experience with so many unknowns, a culture to which the organisation was not ready. We were mandated by the Government to implement the Plan de Soutien to SMEs, aimed at providing financial support to meet cash flow requirements in order to save jobs and to keep the economy running.
As we were in lockdown and the staff were working from home, we reviewed all our processes to assist those enterprises affected by the COVID 19. All applications and loans assessment and approval were done online. We had to resume office earlier before the complete removal of the lockdown as we were facing a lot of difficulties operating from home. Nevertheless, the staff worked hard and we were able to cope with the workload and give satisfaction to our customers.
Subsequently, in early June 2020, again at the request of the Government, we operated the Wage Assistance Loan Scheme for Export Oriented (Goods) Enterprises for the payment of wages including end of year bonus having the same objective of saving jobs and ensuring production. As of date we have supported some 80 enterprises and disbursed some Rs 1.6 billion for payment of wages and bonus of some 13500 employees. You can imagine the social and economic impact, had the DBM not intervened to protect the jobs of these employees.
Is it all Mr Pandoo?
I must say “it’s just the beginning”. Following the Budget 2020/2021, the DBM was called upon to implement the “Plan de Relance”, as such The Bank operated several loan schemes, under four clusters, namely food security, digitalisation & ICT, women empowerment and mechanisation, with the objective to reduce the cost of production through mechanisation as well as using new technologies. The Bank also operated a Special Loan scheme for the Distressed Enterprises.
As you have heard, the DBM has been the pioneer in the provision in industrial space to SMEs since the 1970s and today it owns some 1.5 million square feet of industrial building which it leases to SMEs and entrepreneurs at concessionary rates. The Bank had initiated the construction of two SME parks at Plaine Magnien and Vuillemin SME Park since 2016.
However, the construction of these SME Parks were stalled since the last 4 years. We have been able to negotiate the funding for the projects with the Government and here I must thank the Honorable Dr Renganaden Padayachy, the Minister of Finance Economic Planning and Development for having provided the requisite funding for these projects. I must tell you that the stone laying ceremony for the construction of the Plaine Magnien SME Park was effected in December 2020 by the Minister and the work is progressively monitored.
As far as the Vuillemin SME Park is concerned, the contract has already been awarded to the successful bidder and works have already started and the Park will be ready by September 2022.
We note that achievements are quite significant in such a short span of time…
This is team work, when the Board, Management and the staff look in the same direction, the result is bound to come. I must tell you that since April 2020, the DBM has approved credit facilities totalling Rs2.9 billion which is a record in the history of the institution which has been in existence for some 83 years. Moreover, under the Economic Recovery Programme the Bank has been allocated some Rs 850M for the following projects:
- Operating the Phase 5 of the Solar Water Heater Scheme. The Bank has already proceeded with the registration of beneficiaries and I must say that the response has been above our expectations with some 28,600 applicants exceeding the original budget of Rs 300M;
- Setting up of PV systems on the rooftops of the industrial buildings of the DBM, the Ministry of Health buildings and other public entity buildings;
- Renovation of DBM Industrial buildings, which were constructed in the 1970s and 1980s.
In March this year following second lockdown, Government has requested the Bank to operate two new loan schemes namely the SME Interest Free Loan Scheme which will provide an interest free loan of Rs 100,000 to SMEs to ease their cash flow problems and the COVID 19 loan Scheme of Rs1.0M to support the SMEs to sustain their activities. The Bank is also providing a one-year moratorium to its customers on the repayment of capital and interest on their loans.
Comments are closed.