Serving as the growth engine for the farmers of the hilly district, Dehradun District Cooperative Bank is offering cheap loan through its 21 branches spread across the area. And yet it earns profit- a marvel given the poor track record of cooperative sector in the country.
Chairman Dr K S Rana said in an exclusive interview to the Indian Cooperative that in the last fiscal year the bank earned a net profit of about Rs 10 crore from its 21 branches located in the Dehradun region. Rana said “we are giving 20 percent dividend which is highest according to bye-laws to our 550 member societies.”
The Bank has also been active in adopting the latest developments in the field of technology. Bank chairman said “during my tenure I provided the facilities such as CBS, ATM, RTGS and NIFT in the bank and soon we are providing mobile banking facilities to our customers”.
Rana, however is not happy with the NDA govt. He seared on the Modi government that its main focus is to give benefits to industrial sector instead of developing rural India. “Modi government didn’t do anything to make cooperative sector strong”, he complained.
Responding to a question as to what benefits the bank is providing to the farmers of the state, Rana said “with the support of Uttarakhand government we are giving agricultural loan to the farmers at the rate of 4 percent.”
The bank has an illustrious past as National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has never punished it. “We are not giving any loan to the directors of the bank but RBI has to withdraw these restrictions because directors are the part of our bank’, Rana demanded.
Bank was established in 1924.Rana said that bank keeps organizing training programmes for the members of Bank. It also organizes trips to cooperative societies to have firsthand experience. Recently our members had visited IFFCO phulpur unit, he added.
We are providing interest free loans of Rs 15 lakh to the employees of bank at one time in their life. In all branches of Bank is also providing facility for getting Pan Card.