Officials visit a high-tech company in Rugao to learn about its needs and evaluate its capacity for research and development, transformation of research results, risk control, as well as the value of their products. [Photo/ntfabu.com]

A timely loan from Rugao Rural Commercial Bank has recently helped expand a local casting company's production capacity by 50 percent, local media outlets reported.

The company's chairman Xu Shuanglong said that the company will be able to achieve its annual sales goal of 160 million yuan ($24.77 million) because of the loan.

Rukedai is a new product introduced by the Rugao Rural Commercial Bank this year which offers unsecured, low-interest, long-term loans to 376 high-tech companies in Rugao.

A special panel set up by officials from the city's sci-tech, administrative and intellectual property bureaus have visited each company to learn about their needs and evaluate their capacity for research and development, transformation of research results, risk control, as well as the value of their products.

A total of 6.26 billion yuan in credit loans have been approved to 330 companies. By the end of July, 190 companies had received 2.01 billion yuan. 

In addition, other banks such as Bank of Jiangsu and Bank of China have introduced similar financial products to support the development of local high-tech companies.

From January to July, the Rugao branch of Bank of Jiangsu released 388 million yuan in loans to 63 high-tech companies.