The Uttarakhand Government is seriously brainstorming the implementation of a two-tier system in the state by merging all the District Central Cooperative Banks with State Cooperative Bank i.e. Uttarakhand State Cooperative Bank.
Preparations for merging DCCBs with SCB are underway. The government felt that this move would strengthen the cooperative banks and will enable them to compete with public and private sector banks.
Readers would recall that earlier the congress government had also tried to merge DCCBs but to no avail. At the time, the leaders associated with cooperatives strongly opposed the move.
Meanwhile, commenting on this development Uttarakhand Cooperative Minister Dhan Singh Rawat said, “The brainstorming session is focused on implementing a two-tier system in cooperatives by merging all the DCCBs with SCB. The process is on and a decision will be soon taken, he told media persons.
It is being reported that there are over 270 branches of DCCBs in the State and SCB having around 15 branches in the state. There are 10 DCCBs in Uttarakhand.
In the changing circumstances, the Central Government is focusing on strengthening the Public Sector banks as well as empowering the DCCBs.
At present, while the three-tier (cooperative societies, district cooperative banks and state cooperative banks) system is working in cooperatives in the state the need for a two tier system is being widely felt for transforming the banking scene.
It is believed that where there will be austerity, and administrative control, there will prevail better conditions for banks to succeed. Recently, discussions about various aspects of cooperative banking were held in the review meeting of the Cooperative Department.
Earlier, RBI has given approval for merging the six DCCBs of Chhattisgarh with State Cooperative Bank- the apex banking entity in the state. Jharkhand has already done so and Kerala is in the process. Sahakar Bharati’s argument against the Kerala DCCBs merger went for a toss when several BJP states themselves subscribed to the idea.
