Page 21 - Banking Finance April 2020

CO-OPERATIVE BANK NEWS

proposal is likely to speed up after issues related to agriculture, the bank where borrowers can avail the ben-
March 31, 2020. was and will be there to help. All we efits," she said.
want is the farmer's passion in farm-
"The board of administrators of Rupee ing," said MS Jayachandran, president "Meanwhile, we are in touch with our
Bank is making all efforts to safeguard of the bank. valuable customers through mail and
the interests of its depositors since last messages.
three years. RBI has taken a note of Since January 2000, the bank has been
these efforts by the board of adminis- given the properties by the landown- Cooperative banks in
trators," Pandit said. ers in the panchayat for the purpose
of the farming for farming for free. Kerala comes ahead to
The bank has been successful in recov- Presently, above 1,000 families under help their members during
ering Rs 338 crore during the adminis- different self-help groups are involved lockdown
trative period. In this fiscal, till January, in the bank's initiative that ranges
the bank has reported recovery of Rs from cultivation of paddy, fruits and Local cooperative banks in Kerala are
13.53 crore. An operating profit of Rs vegetables, dairy and poultry farming coming ahead to help its members who
13.47 crore has also been reported by and others. are facing economic hardship following
the bank after all required provisions the national lockdown.
as on January 31, 2020. "Taking our initiative as a model for
their project, K-DISC has started soft- Besides offering interest-free loans and
Pandit added that the bank expects ware development. Like ours, the plat- moratorium of two months on repay-
recovery of Rs 20 crore during the year. form will not be limited to sale of prod- ment, some institutions are also ex-
He added that the bank expects to gain ucts but be involved in all phases of tending financial support to their mem-
operating profit of more than Rs 12 production," said Jayachandran. bers for purchasing essential items
crore in the current fiscal. during the crisis period. At the same
REPCO Bank to offer three time, COVID-19 scare has forced an
Kerala Govt adopts months moratorium to institution to put on hold its plan to
launch a scheme for its members.
Palliyakkal coop bank's borrowers
model to implement Chennai based Repatriates Coopera- The Mulavukad Cooperative Bank had
to postpone its scheme of offering a
'Kerala Food Platform' tive Finance and Development Bank soft loan of Rs.5,000 each to its mem-
(Repco Bank) is making a policy to give
Kerala Finance Minister TM Thomas bers following reports of a COVID-19
benefits to its borrowers who have
Isaac has announced the implementa- case from a nearby panchayat.
taken term loans or any other loans
tion of 'Kerala Food Platform' all over from the bank.
the state. The Kerala Food platform is The scheme envisaged granting inter-
an online platform for procuring and Repco Bank MD R S Isabella said, "We est-free loans for 12 months with a
marketing farm yields on the lines of welcome the move of RBI. Presently, moratorium of two months on repay-
Uber. we are framing the policy to offer the ment. Beneficiaries could repay loans
three month moratorium to the bor- in the remaining 10 months. The bank
The platform is based on the success- rowers who have taken term loans or had earmarked Rs.25 lakh for the pur-
ful integrated farming model that en- any other loans from the bank". pose. The bank will launch the scheme
sured that the bank was helping farm- shortly, according to its president M.A.
ers at every stage of cultivation. "The "In the three-month moratorium, bor- Leo Paul.
bank devised a strategy which helped rowers would not have to pay any loan
farmers at different phases, starting EMI instalments, including principal A majority of the 10,500 members of
from funding to the marketing of prod- and interest. Scores of small borrow- the bank are daily wagers, and the
ucts. Be it providing loans or land, ex- ers are associated with as our bank. national lockdown has rendered them
tending technical support or any other We will put the form over website jobless, said Mr. Paul.

BANKING FINANCE | APRIL | 2020 | 19