Co-operators across the country have welcomed the news of the Cabinet nod to MSCS Amendment Bill, 2022 on Wednesday, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.
While some call it revolutionary, others calls it a piece of legislation aimed at ushering in a new era in the annals of cooperative movement.
Excerpts:
R S Sodhi, MD GCMMF
These are revolutionary amendments in the MSCS Act. This would facilitate much needed autonomy and independence to cooperatives. The proposed amendment would empower its members and go a long way in strengthening the cooperative movement.
Satish Marathe, Founder Member, Sahakar Bharati
I welcome most of the major provisions proposed in the MSCS ( Amendment ) Bill, 2022. However, apparently it falls short on the Recovery Process, which under the MSCS Act is tardy and extremely time consuming, bordering on defeating Recovery efforts of the CoOps. The present system should have been completely overhauled.
Marathe also felt Absence of provision for empowering CoOps to enter OTS, undertake Write Offs, Waiver/Reduction in interest rates, etc is not in keeping with current trends. Marathe’s detailed reaction is being given separately.
Maharashtra Urban Cooperative Bank Federation, Chairman, Vidyadhar Anaskar
I welcomed the provisions proposed in the MSCS (Amendment) Bill, 2022. The bill was pending since 2010 but now things are taking concrete shape due to hard efforts of our Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah.
The introduction of Non-voting Shares is praiseworthy. The high power committee appointed by RBI in 1999 under the Chairmanship of K Madhava Rao, on which Nafcub Former Chairman Mukund Abhyankar was also a member, floated the concept of Non-Voting shares.
With this, the cooperative principle of one member one vote will be intact and help the cooperative banks to raise capital. They will not have the voting power.
As for Commercial banks, there is SEBI but there is a need to create a separate regulator on the lines of SEBI.
Besides, the creation of the Cooperative Development Fund is also a good move, which will help the co-ops at the time of liquidity crunch.
Repco Bank MD R S Isabella
After the formation of separate Ministry for Cooperation and the charge of Honourable Union Minister Sri.Amit Shah a lot of impetus is being given to the Co-operative sector and one such leap is the amendments to the MSCS Act with the prime object of bringing in more transparency better management and administration without impacting the Principles of Co-operation.
It is worth appreciating that the office of the Central Registrar Ministry of Agriculture had sought the opinion and suggestions from the societies and Repco Bank has also suggested few amendments in the larger interest of the societies’ governance and efficacy. Once again I would add that having read the draft amendments is a major step in bringing professionalism and better control in the management of societies .
V M Chaudhari, GSCARDB (Kheti Bank) Ahmedabad
The MSCS Act amendment will bring more prosperity to Cooperative societies. The amendments are welcomed for strengthening the cooperative movement of India. This will surely bring prosperity through cooperation. All amendments are the need of the hour. Best wishes to the cooperation ministry for these initiatives.
Kangra Co-op Bank, former CEO Jagmohan Taneja
It will bring autonomy to the Multistate Co Op Sector and pave the way to progress with its own identity as a cooperative as Business enterprise. Non-voting shares is a very good step as it will help to allot shares to employees so that a sense of belonging will prevail among employees and the Cooperative may attract talented people. These amendments will be good for the coop sector and will also open ways for raising capital from the public also apart from strengthening this sector.
Jayant Kashinath, former CEO, Janata Sahakari Bank, Pune
The long awaited amendment is welcome for the sector bringing in line with the 97th amendment.
Issues covered are also of greater importance and will surely improve the performance of the society. At the same time suddenly and hurried decision surprises
It is required to go through all the details of the amendment to comment on its implications on multi state co-op banks
Kaijs Bank, CEO, Sanjay Shirgave
It’s a good one for the co-op sector, some restrictions imposed which help the sector.
