As a part of the centenary year celebrations of Sahakar Bharati Founder late Laxamnrao Inamdar Jalgaon Janata Sahakari Bank and Sahakar Bharati jointly organized a two-day national conference of urban co-operative banks which was attended by delegates from more than 10 states.
Themed “National Summit for UCBs-Way ahead”, the conference deliberated on the challenges being faced by the sector in changing times. Held at Gandhi Teerth, Jain Hills, Jalgaon, it began with paying tributes to late Inamdar for his selfless contributions in purifying the cooperative movement.
Speaking on the occasion, Sahakar Bharati Chief Jyotindra Mehta said late Inamdar not only sacrificed his own life but also created a brigade of selfless volunteers for the cause of the co-op movement. Sketching out the future course of developments in the financial system, Mehta remarked that the financial position of cooperative banks is far better than nationalized or private sector banks. “Future of cooperative banks will depend upon 4 Ps viz Policy, Products, Pricing and People”, Mehta underlined.
Besides Mehta, Anil Jain, Vice Chairman and MD of Jain Irrigation Systems, Satish Marathe, Uday Joshi, Anil Rao, Chairman Jalgaon Janata Sahakari Bank and P U Patil, CEO were present on the dais.
Anil Jain stressed on adopting technologies with changing times. He also felt that people have still trust on co-op banks and that blaming the entire cooperative movement for the mistakes of a few is not justified.
While welcoming delegate, Anil Rao Chairman of Jalgaon Janata Sahakari Bank offered a rapid review of progress made by the Bank and various welfare projects being undertaken by it. In his speech Satish Marathe spoke at length on the use of technology and felt that the micro-finance sector is doing well.
The technical session was taken by S.V.Hardikar, Head Liabilities, Bank of Baroda. He talked of a paradigm shift sweeping through business activities. Others who spoke included Bhushan Kondurkar, Nilesh Patil, Sourav Kumar and Dalichand Jain, Chairman of Mahavir Cooperative Bank.
There was also a presentation by SBI DFHI about Government Security Market and one by K.K.Badale of Jalgaon Janata Infotech Pvt.Ltd.
Vishwas Kulkarni presented the Sahakar Geet on the occasion. Compeering was done by CA Krushna Kamathe, Director of the Bank and a vote of thanks was given by P U Patil CEO of the Bank. In the evening there was a cultural Programme “Kaththak Rang” presented by Mrs. Aparna Bhat and the Group.
The second day of the conference began with a thought provoking lecture delivered by CA Prakash Pathak. There were 3 panel discussions also slated for the day.
While the first Panel was led by CA Jayesh Doshi, Director of Jalgaon Janata Sahakari Bank and CA Satynarayan Lohiya, Director of Chhatrapati Rajashri Shahu Urban Coop Bank, The second panel was led by Dr Rajendra Hiremath, Vice Chairman of Janseva Sahakari Bank and Shohit Sinha of SBI DFHI. The third panel was led by Anil Rao, Chairman of Jalgaon Janata Sahakari Bank and Kalpakbhai Maniar, Director of Rajkot Nagari Sahakari Bank.
There was also a question-answer session chaired by CA Uday Karve, Chairman of Dombivali Nagari Sahakari Bank and senior Sahakar Bharati official Uday Joshi. The valedictory Session was presided over by Gulabrao Patil, Minister of State for Cooperation, Maharashtra.