Page 22 - Banking Finance September 2018

CO-OPERATIVE BANK NEWS

Rupee Cooperative Bank Ahmedabad co-op bank files defamation case against
gets extension Rahul Gandhi
The Rupee Cooperative Bank has Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank (ADCB) and its chairman Ajay Patel filed
been two separate criminal defamation cases against
granted Congress president Rahul Gandhi and party spokes-
further ex- person Randeep Surjewala for their remarks on the
tension till bank in connection to an RTI filed on
November demonetisation.
30, 2018 by Addressing a press conference on June 22, Surjewala had claimed, quoting an
the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). RTI reply, that the bank had exchanged Rs 745.58 crore banned notes in just
Despite the improvement in the five days after demonetisation was announced in 2016.
working of the bank, due to increas- He had also claimed that Ajay Patel, chairman of ADCB, is a "close associate of
ing level of non-performing assets BJP president Amit Shah who is a director and former chairman of the bank".
and distressed condition in banking Surjewala had demanded a probe into these deposits and alleged that the RTI
industry, the efforts for solution reply has "exposed an attempt to convert black money into white money in the
through merger with other bank guise of demonetisation".
could not succeed, a note issued by
the bank stated. "The BoA does not The same day Congress chief Rahul Gandhi posted on Twitter: "Congratulations
expect any such proposal in near fu- Amit Shah ji, Director, Ahmedabad Dist Cooperative Bank, on your bank winning
ture. However, due to overall im- 1st prize in the conversion of old notes to new race. 750 Cr in 5 days! Millions of
provement in the functioning of the Indian whose lives were destroyed by Demonetisation, salute your achievement."
bank, the Board of Administrators) The tweet had attached a picture of Shah which said, "THE DIRECTOR of the
BoA considers revival of the bank as bank that collected the highest number of demonetised notes… The PRESIDENT
a viable option for protecting the in- of the party that got 80% richer after demonetisation."
terest of depositors," C A Sudhir The following day, on June 23, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Devel-
Pandit, chairman, Board of Adminis- opment clarified that the average deposit amount in the ADCB was Rs 46,795 per
trators of the bank said.
account holder, which is lower than the average per depositor in 18 DCBs of Gujarat.
Accordingly, the BoA has submitted a
proposal for revival to the RBI and the Shri Arihant Co-op Bank's NPA rises to 3.18%
state government, he said, adding The NPA of Shri Arihant Co-op Bank has risen. According to Kiran L.Patel, CEO
that the BoA has also decided to take of bank, "Due to less recovery in the last fi-
suggestions from experts in this re- nancial year, our Net NPA has increased from
gard. The state government has 0.00 percent in 2016-17 to 1.68 % as on
taken steps for speedy disposal of the 2017-18 and the gross NPA has increased
appeals filed by the delinquent direc- from 2.52 % in 2016-17 to 3.18 % as on 2017-18".
tors and executives against whom
"Our board members are trying hard to rein in the NPA in the current financial
accountability has been fixed, he said.
year as we have initiated several steps in this regard. Our target is to recover
According to Pandit, the revival of an amount of Rs 514.51 crore", Patel asserted. The total deposits of the bank
the bank, though challenging, is cer- decreased in the FY 2017-18 compared to the financial year 2016-17. The De-
tainly possible. However, the BoA posits of the Bank witnessed a marginal fall by 4.87% and reached Rs 354.36 Cr
expects that the depositors as well as on March 31, 2018, as against Rs 372.50 Cr in the FY 2017.
as the employees and wellwishers of "Loans and Advances increased from Rs 137.79 crore as on March 31, 2017 to
the bank need to exercise restraint, Rs 161.61 crore in the FY 2017-18. The business mix of the bank is about Rs 515
have positive approach and also ex- crore", Patel said while sharing the figures. The Bank achieved a net profit of Rs
tend their cooperation in this regard, 85 Lakhs in FY 2017-18 whereas in FY 2016-17 the bank had earned a higher
he suggested.
profit of Rs 1.58 crore.

22 | 2018 | SEPTEMBER | BANKING FINANCE