Mumbai based Apna Sahakari Bank (Multi State Cooperative Bank) had earned a gross profit of Rs 37 crore in the financial year 2016-17 with a business mix of about 5 thousand crore, said Prakash Kondurkar Chief Executive of the bank in an exclusive interview with Indian Cooperative Correspondent recently.
Kondurkar the CEO of the bank for long 14 years said “We have set the target to open 100 branches with a business mix of more than 10 thousand crore till 2020. Nearly 51,000 members and 1 lakh card holders are associated with the bank benefiting from high technology network of 81 branches offering banking services”, he added.
Highlighting the history, the CEO said Apna Sahakari Bank popularly known as “Apna Bank” was established on the day of Gudhi Padva in 1968 with the help of mill workers. At the time, finance for poor mill workers was a major challenge, and the bank was formed to provide them with easy credit. The bank had started with a mere 1 lakh share capital. .
The bank CEO hailed various policies launched by Narendra Modi’s Government in the interest of common people. However, he urged the government to give adequate capital to cooperative banks so they could be on a par with public and private sector banks. He regretted that 100 crore of share capital was declared in the budget 4 years back for setting up an umbrella organization but it has yet to be implemented.
The former Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar did a great deal for encouraging the cooperative movement and we can’t forget his contributions. Radha Mohan Singh is also doing his best to strengthen the cooperative movement, Kondurkar said in an exclusive interview.
”At the time of demonetization we had called an emergency board meeting to discuss how to tackle the situation but with the help of our staff members we tackled it well. The bank had faced the lack of currency, he noted. .
Praising the efforts of his chairman Dattaram Chalke, he is mainly responsible for the success of the bank. When he took over as chairman in 2003, our business increased immensely and now we are having having 81 branches with 71 ATMs under his able leadership, said Kondurkar proudly.
When this correspondent asked about giving loans to directors and their relatives, the bank CEO claimed ” we have not sanctioned any loan to directors and their relatives as RBI has put restrictions on it”.
The bank has won more than 23 Awards and recently the bank has been awarded Banco Award for the third consecutive year.
