Page 18 - Banking Finance August 2019

CO-OPERATIVE BANK NEWS

Maharashtra State Co-op Nagaland State Co-op Bank approves action plan for
Bank to directly finance 2019-20; projects profit of Rs 1500 lakh

PACs Projecting a profit of Rs 1500 lakh as on March 31 2020, the development ac-
tion plan for the financial year 2019-20 has been ap-
Maharashtra State Cooperative proved by the Board of Directors of Nagaland State
(MSC) Bank Cooperative Bank (NSCB) with a growth of 65.37%
plans to di- over 2018-19, informed bank source.
rectly finance
Primary Agri- The development action plan was approved during
culture Credit the 292nd meeting of the Board of Directors. State
Chief Secretary and Finance Commissioner, Temjen Toy, who is also the chair-
Societies
(PACs) in order man of the bank, chaired the meeting. Dignitaries who attended the board meet-
to help ailing ing include Vice Chairman of the bank Kekhwengulo Lea, Secretary of Coopera-
tion and Municipality L Akato Sema, Registrar of Cooperative Societies Wepe
District Central Cooperative Banks
Ritse, NABARD General Manager (OIC) regional office SK Dhumal, and Manag-
(DCCBs) in the state.
ing Director of the bank Lipoktoba Aier.
MSC Bank is an apex body for 31 As much as 30 action taken report and agenda were placed and discussed in
DCCBs which have about 3,746
the meeting. The Board also deliberated on various agenda pertaining to agri-
branches, with a third tier of around
2.21 lakh PACS which directly lend to culture and rural development. The Board wants to continue such effort and
farmers and the rural population. assured all possible support for the uplift of the poorer section of the society
This bank generally refinances the and rural economy of the State.
DCCBs and also extends working capi- MP police initiate probe into post-demonetisation
tal to sugar mills, after the latter
pledge their sugar stock and the deposits in co-op banks
DCCBs, in turn, finance the PACs. The special task force of Madhya Pradesh police department have initiated an
Vidyadhar Anaskar, chairman, admin- investigation into deposits of about Rs 110 crore made
istrative board, MSC Bank, said “At into savings accounts in the state’s cooperative banks
present, lending to PACs in some parts after demonetisation. STF additional director general
of the state is completely stopped (ADG) Ashok Awasthi said investigations have been initi-
since the DCCBs have high NPAs.. ated on the basis of complaints that a large amount of
MSC Bank has, therefore, decided to old notes were deposited in cooperative banks from
establish a separate account for PACs November 10, 2016 to December 30, 2016 by opening new saving accounts, and
and the old accumulated dues of PACs that money was transferred to other banks from these accounts.
will not be taken into consideration “We have started a probe of district cooperative banks in Bhopal, Gwalior and
here. Instead, farmers will be given Sagar as most of the money was deposited in these banks. But it’s just the tip of
finance and DCCBs, in turn, will get a the iceberg. This could be a very big scam,” he added. An official of the state’s
margin of 1% and a 0.5% on recovery cooperative department said income-tax officials had already inquired into the
of the loans.”
matter and didn’t find anything amiss.
“These BCs would give details of eli- Madhya Pradesh State Cooperative (Apex) Bank managing director Pradeep
gible borrowers (Primary Agriculture Nikhra said, “Following the huge transactions during demonetisation, the IT
Credit Societies) to us; we would give department sought details of the accounts of cooperative banks but didn’t find
them fund which they can disburse
as loans to the needy borrowers”, anything. Now, STF has taken up the case. We don’t have any problem. We will
Anaskar said, adding that in return provide all documents related to the probe.”
MSC Bank would give 1% commission “As the maximum deposit limit in an account was Rs 2 lakh, accounts were
to DCCBs for providing the details of opened in the names of different members of a family. We will also probe the
borrowers. role of officers of cooperative banks in allowing the irregularity,” The ADG said.

18 | 2019 | AUGUST | BANKING FINANCE