Deposits in no-frills bank accounts opened for marginal and low-income people have risen, but those in farmers' accounts have fallen.

Between the end of March and the end of June this year, deposits in these accounts rose by 1.55 per cent, while farmers' deposits fell by 10.35 per cent, according to Bangladesh Bank.

Central bank data show that at the end of June total deposits in no-frills accounts, opened with Tk 10, Tk 50 or Tk 100, stood at Tk 5,490 crore, up from Tk 5,407 crore at the end of March, an increase of Tk 83 crore in three months.

The number of accounts also grew, to 2,95,47,897 at the end of June from 2,93,16,889 at the end of March, a rise of 2,31,008 or 0.79 per cent.

Over a year, too, deposits and accounts rose. Deposits were Tk 5,036 crore at the end of June 2025 and reached Tk 5,490 crore a year later, up Tk 454 crore or 9.2 per cent. The number of accounts rose from 2,87,06,799 to 2,95,47,897, an increase of 8,41,098 or 2.93 per cent.

Farmers' accounts showed the opposite picture. Their deposits were Tk 867.30 crore at the end of March and fell to Tk 777.56 crore at the end of June, a drop of about Tk 89.73 crore, or 10.35 per cent, in three months.

People in the sector say higher production costs are reducing farmers' ability to save from their income. Withdrawals from bank accounts to repay loans and meet production costs may also have played a part.

Other groups saw deposits rise, Bangladesh Bank data show:

• extreme poor: from Tk 277 crore at the end of March to Tk 292 crore at the end of June;
• garment workers: from Tk 506 crore to Tk 518 crore;
• freedom fighters: from Tk 990 crore to Tk 1,016 crore;
• social safety net beneficiaries: from Tk 1,902 crore to Tk 2,104 crore.

Remittances received through no-frills accounts dipped slightly, to Tk 835.42 crore at the end of June from Tk 845.17 crore at the end of March, a fall of Tk 9.75 crore or 1.15 per cent.

To bring marginal groups into banking, the government in 2010 allowed bank accounts to be opened with Tk 10, Tk 50 or Tk 100. These are known as no-frills accounts and serve low-income groups including farmers, garment workers, the extreme poor and beneficiaries of social safety net programmes. They usually have no minimum balance requirement and relatively low service charges or fees, so they play an important role in linking the unbanked to the formal financial system.

Banking analyst M Helal Ahmed Jony, research fellow at Change Initiative, told Jagonews24 that one reason for the fall in farmers' deposits could be growing pressure on their cash in hand. As costs of fertiliser, seed, irrigation, labour, fuel and transport rise, the surplus left from farmers' income is shrinking.

Farmers' dependence on loans has also increased, he said. To meet production costs, many borrow from banks, NGOs, cooperatives or informal sources, so when income comes in it goes on repaying loans and production costs rather than into savings.

"Added to this is not getting a fair price for crops. As farmers' real disposable income falls, their capacity to save in banks may decline," the analyst said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.