The representatives of Savings & Credit Cooperatives (SACCO) from Kenya under the aegis of Kenya Union of Saving & Credit Cooperatives (KUSCCO) visited the apex body of Indian cooperatives NCUI Wednesday this week.
This is a 20 member delegation on a study tour to know about the functioning of cooperative institutions in India. The delegation from Kenya interacted with President of NCUI Chandra Pal Singh Yadav and other functionaries. . Prior to the NCUI visit, they visited NAFCUB headquarters. It is learnt that the whole trip is organized by NCUI and the delegation will be back home on 28th April.
Welcoming the foreign delegates, Chandra Pal Singh Yadav said, “The Indian cooperative movement is having more than 8 lakh cooperative societies with a membership of about 290 million and India has the world’s largest cooperative movement which plays an important role in the economy of the nation”.
He further said, “There are a number of cooperative societies, like IFFCO, KRIBHCO, AMUL, Saraswat Bank etc which are making substantial contributions to the development of the cooperative movement in the country. In India, Cooperatives have emerged as an effective option for the people to exercise control over their own economic livelihood”, he noted.
Explaining the objective of NCUI, Yadav said ”NCUI is an umbrella institution to promote and strengthen cooperative bodies and also impart cooperative education and training to members as well as personnel working for cooperatives across sector in the country.
The representatives from more than six Savings & Credit Cooperatives (SACCO) of Kenya are on the visit. One of the delegates said, “There are over 3,000 SACCOs affiliated to KUSCCO. These SACCOs are providing loans at cheaper rate of interest to their members in comparison to Commercial banks.
James Michael Maingi, One of the representatives from SACCOs introduced delegates who were from different cooperatives including the land buying society, transport society, farmer society and many others. “We are here to learn about how cooperatives of India are being managed and we would like to use the knowledge we gain in running our own coops in Kenya”, Maingi said.
In his brief speech on the occasion, NCUI CE N Satyanaryana shed light on the achievements of Indian Cooperative Movement. Ashok Dabbas, NLCF, Director, NCUI top officials and others were present on the occasion.
Ritesh Dey, Director, International Relations of NCUI made a detailed presentation on the structure of Indian Cooperative Movement. One of the foreign delegates who spoke to this correspondent said ” the presentation was highly informative and we liked it greatly.”
