The two days meet of NAFSCOB ended on Thursday at NCUI Auditorium in Delhi with the Deputy Governor Mr K C Chakravarty patting the cooperative banks for their good work and promising them of RBI’s full support in future too. Mr Chakravarty said that RBI is committed to seek association of every Indian to the banking system and it needs the help of cooperative banks which has deep penetration in countryside. Lamenting that only fifty percent of Indian population transacts through banks, Chakravarty sees great potential in Cooperative banks to achieve the goal of “Bank for All”. He did not miss to emphasize that Cooperatives should follow the Vaidyanathan committee guidelines which will help them perform better. Incidently, Vaidyanathan was associated with Reserve Bank of India only.
Referring to issue of withdrawal of Income tax from cooperative banks, Mr Chakavarty felt that one more chance should be given to cooperative banks to improve its performance. And if they begin to earn profit what is the harm in paying income tax, he asked. It should be known to readers that issue of Income Tax has become an emotive subject with NAFSCOB with its Directors along with the Chairman Dr Bijender Singh threatening to hit the streets with bandhs if the issue is not addressed soon.
The deputy governor also requested the corporaters who were present to find out ways of strengthening cooperatives so that it does not have to fall back on any one. Addressing the assembled members of cooperative banks, he asked them to fan out to states to convince the States to bring in suitable legal amendments whereby Vaidyanathan Committee report could be followed. Only 14 states have brought in the needed legal reforms so far, he lamented. He concluded by asserting that there is a need of professional approach in the working of cooperative banks.
The Agricultural secretary Mr P K Basu stressed the need of encompassing every farmer of the country into cooperative fold and assured that agricultural ministry is ready with all possible support to cooperatives.
NASCOB President Dr Bijender Singh thanked the Deputy governor for his support and promised to carry forward the cooperative movement on the lines suggested by him. His emphasis on removal the Income tax from cooperative bank was taken sympathetically by the Deputy Governor and Dr Singh sounded confident of turning around the balance sheet of cooperative banks shortly.
NCUI President Dr Chandra Pal Singh Yadav assured the assembled gathering that being the apex body NCUI will do everything possible to make cooperative movement a big hit in the country. We will strengthen the movement and associate every farmer to it, assured the President.
The two days event was attended by Directors of State cooperative Banks in addition to Secretaries, Dept of Cooperatives, a few state governments’ representative and Registrars of Cooperative societies from a few state .
The first day was graced by Mr.Umesh Chandra Sarangi, Chairman NABARD, who delivered key note address. The most crucial issues pertaining to cooperative credit .The participants made critical analysis on the roles & responsibilities of RBI, NABARD and Govt of India.They wanted NABARD to perform as an organisation and not as a department of Ministry of Finance.NABARD should be given freedom of autonomy to be relevant.There should be a separate organisation to address the issues related to credit cooperatives. The NAFSCOB Chairman Dr Bijender Singh and Managing Director Mr V Subrahmanyam guided the team towards fruitful discussion. About 20 percent of District Cooperative banks and 10 percent of Primary Cooperative banks’ representatives also participated in the meet. NCUI President Dr Chandra Pal Singh Yadav also motivated the participants with his words.