The security printing press is facing difficulties in meeting the growing demand for bank cheques due to lack of required printing machines, official sources said.
One out of two printing machines has been lying inoperative for long.
The Security Printing Corporation (Bangladesh) Ltd (SPCBL) now cannot meet the required demand for Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) cheques even after it operates the sole printing machine round the clock, they said.
The country's banking sector needs some 45 million MICR cheques in the current fiscal year (FY), according to the SPCBL data.
SPCBL needs at least three MICR machines on an emergency basis.
It can produce 15-20 million pieces of MICR cheques with one machine.
In 2009, the SPCBL purchased a MICR encoding and personalised cheque printing machine (EPCPM) from the United Kingdom (UK) for printing customised cheques of different state-owned banks, private banks and other important organisations.
Another MICR EPCPM with less production capacity was bought from neighbouring India in 2014 to use it during the crisis period for production and supply of required MICR cheques to different commercial banks.
The machine imported from the UK has remained inoperative for a long time due to non-cooperation of supplier firm M/S Delphax Technologies Ltd, sources said.
The SPCBL gave reminder three times, but the firm is yet to respond. As a result, the machine is lying inoperative now, a source said.
The SPCBL has already invited e-tender four times. But the required machine could not be purchased due to lack of necessary offers according to the demand.
Some Tk 20 million has been earmarked to purchase a machine with the production capacity of 15 million pieces of MICR cheques for the FY 2018-19.
The corporation will invite tender for the fifth time to purchase a MICR machine, according to a meeting of the board of directors of the SPCBL.
When contacted, Managing Director of the SPCBL Sk. Azizul Haque said, "We are under tremendous pressure to meet the demand for MICR cheques. Presently, there is no backup in this regard. Production of MICR cheques is hampered whenever the existing machine remains out of order."
There is a huge demand for MICR cheques. The SPCBL cannot provide cheques according to the banks' demand, he added.
"A process is underway to purchase a new MICR EPCPM. We will invite a tender in this regard soon," he mentioned.
He admitted that they could not buy the required machine even after inviting tenders.
The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has set a target of producing 1,200 million pieces of currency and banknotes of different denominations in the current FY.
Some 9653.24 million other security products (OSPs) would be printed in FY 2018-19, up by 10.07 per cent from the revised target of the last FY, the data showed.
