Credit co-ops can learn a lot from Dnyandeep Credit Society

One of the largest credit cooperative societies of Maharashtra-Dnyandeep Cooperative Credit Society is making big plans for achieving a new milestone and set a target for achieving a business mix of Rs 10,000 crore in the next five years.

The society is doing well in the state of Maharashtra catering to the financial needs of the downtrodden people of society especially in western Maharashtra.

The Indian Cooperative correspondent visited their sprawling headquarters located at the heart of Mumbai and met its Vice-Chairman Chandrakant Dhamal who apprised him of the activities of the society.

“At present our business mix is around Rs 5800 crore but till the end of the current financial year, we have set a target to achieve a Rs 6000 crore business and in next five years our goal is to achieve Rs 10,000 crore. We are sure that we will achieve the prescribed targets”, said Dhamal who is the ex-official of Mahananda Dairy.

He further added, we are adopting new technology in the society’s activities for competing with other players in the market. We are also looking forward to expanding our foot-prints in those areas where we are yet to spread our wings. At present, we have 110 branches.

When asked about converting the society into a Multi-state credit cooperative, he said, “We have not yet decided about it because there is no proper monitoring channel at CRCS level to monitor these societies. In Maharashtra, many multi state cooperative societies are giving higher interest on the deposits and there are no parameters”.

“In our state there are some rules through which we can decide the interest rate on deposits. But there are many loopholes at the CRCS level for multi-state credit co-ops which need to be fixed”, he added.

Adding more about the society, in his comment the society Chief Manager Laxman Chavan said, “The society was established in 1978 with 300 members and Rs 13,000 share capital but as on 31st March 2023, the members and share capital increased to 2.77 lakh and Rs 150.21 respectively. At present, the society’s total business is more than Rs 5800 crore. In the last financial year 2022-23, the society’s business mix stood at Rs 5505 crore and earned a net profit of Rs 28.51 crore with ‘Zero’ net NPA ”, he added.

Meanwhile, in a bid to inculcate the practice of saving among children at an early age, the society is making plans to launch the Kids centric services in the near future. “We are also working on launching the UPI facility for our customers and installing ATM services with a cash deposit machine, which will be done in a couple of months”, said Chavan.

The society’s chief manager also raised a few issues, which are becoming the roadblocks in the growth of the society. The issues include, credit co-ops should have their own IFSC code, proper channel for checking CIBIL score of borrowers, deposit insurance guarantee body for credit co-ops as on the lines of DICGC.

Dnyandeep Cooperative Credit Society also received the Sahakar Bhushan award in 2016 and the Sahakar Maharshi award in 2018 from the cooperative department of Maharashtra.