Cooperative Banks should not be forced to pay income tax as their motto is not to earn profit but to cater to the needs of society, said CA Pradeep Jagannath Jagtap, Chairman of Janaseva Sahakari Bank, Pune to Indian Cooperative.
“Every year our bank is paying about 6 crore as Income Tax and over the last nine years we have paid at least 50 crore. It is true that we are earning profit but we are working for the betterment of the people at the grassroots level without being governed by any profit motive”, Jagtap said.
During the interview Jagtap revealed that the bank experienced many ups and downs but did not flinch from its determination to grow financially and finally acquire the Multi-State Scheduled Status.
“On 1 January 2008 the bank took-over the 80 years old Satara based Koregaon Peoples’ Cooperative Bank that was grappling with financial woes incurring a loss of Rs 7 crore. Now this single unit bank has overcome its crisis and the entire loss is wiped off. We have brought this bank into pink of health”, said Bank Chairman proudly.
While revealing the financial strength of the bank, Jagtap said the bank’s total business has increased from 3016 crore in 2016-17 to 3051 crore in the 2017-18 financial year.
However, talking about the banking industry as a whole, he said it is facing a huge challenges in the form of NPAs. Even in recent years the bank’s gross NPA increased from 6.30 % as on 2016-17 to 6.80 % as on 2017-18, he informed.
Meanwhile, the auditing of the bank is in progress and there are indications that the bank may earn a Net Profit of
over Rs 15 crore in 2017-18.
Answering the query of this correspondent related to the expectations from the government, the bank chairman demanded that the facilities being provided to commercial and PSUs Banks be also given to cooperative banks especially in the field of the govt securities. As we don’t get capital from the government, we can’t raise it from market.
“The bank has met all the parameters as laid down by the apex bank for acquiring the Multi-State Scheduled Status; we are going to apply this year either for Karnataka or Gujarat”, Jagtap sounded confident.
Janaseva Sahakari Bank, Pune has its own CBS platform which was installed in 2013. The bank is having a network of 30 branches, 24 on-site ATMs. “The bank had not opened any branches in the last financial year but would likely open five branches in this financial year”, said Jagtap.
“Interest rate is the major challenge we are facing in taking the bank to still newer heights. If we hike the rate of interest then no borrower will take loans”, said Bank Chairman.
Maharashtra based bank was established on 24th October 1972 under the leadership of late Mama Sahib Hazare with the initial paid up capital of Rs 56 thousand. The bank is having more than 40 thousand shareholders and disbursing 12 percent dividends to its members.
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