Saraswat creates history; jumps to Rs 50 K target

The leading urban cooperative bank of India Saraswat Bank has created history by achieving a business target of Rs 50 thousand crore-perhaps the highest score for any cooperative in the country. The Mumbai headquartered UCB has done the cooperative fraternity proud, commented several cooperators reacting on the news.

Mr S K Banerjee, the Managing Director of the largest UCB of the country has confirmed the news reported in a section of media which was doing rounds without any credible source.

On the phone Saraswat Bank MD S K Banerjee said to this correspondent “I am busy today; will talk to you tomorrow.” But later responding to a SMS he confirmed “It is correct we have crossed total business of Rs 50000 crore”.

As the bank has been holding its tongue since the days of its former chairman high-profile Eknath Thakur, verifying a piece of info is a herculean task. Interestingly, the Bank has no truck with NAFCUB- the apex body of UCBs in the country since the days of Eknath Thakur.

It merits mention that the bank was one of the first co-op bodies along with IFFCO and Amul to have supported the cooperative portal Indian Cooperative when the latter was launched in 2009. Late Thakur would always say Indian Cooperative offers a unique platform for institutions of the cooperative sector to be heard.

Referring to its present achievement ,officials of the UCB say that the Bank has kept pace with digital revolution through a varied range of user-friendly technological products like mobile banking, internet banking, international VISA EMV and RuPay chip cards, etc.

After it has accomplished its mission of Rs 50,000 crore of business mix by 31st March, 2016, the UCB looks forward to the next tranche of Rs`1,00,000 crore of business mix by 31st March, 2021, says its website.

Saraswat Bank is the first co-operative bank in the country to have received an all India permission from the Reserve Bank of India for opening branches and it has operations in six states viz. Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.

The UCB has now 267 fully computerized branches as of 31st March 2015, 4 Zonal Offices and departments located across 6 States. The Bank has introduced a wide range of credit schemes at attractive interest rates, which has become very popular, especially among the middle-class in view of easy repayment plans.