In a bid to bring transparency and uniformity in the working of the long-term credit structure, Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah has taken an important decision to computerize the Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (ARDBs) on the lines of Primary Agriculture Credit Societies (PACS).
As soon as the news broke, co-operators connected with ARDBs lost no time in sharing their happiness with the Indian Cooperative correspondent and called it a ‘Historic Decision’.
Reacting to the news, the apex body- National Cooperative Agriculture & Rural Development Banks Federation Ltd (Nafcard) Chairman Dollarbhai Kotecha, who doubles as the Chairman of Gujarat’s Kheti Bank, said “Computerization of ARDBS on common software will ensure uniformity in operations and accounting system and will also help to improve efficiency of operations, quality of services and product delivery to expand outreach and achieve desired growth in long finance to farmers through ARDBs”.
He also thanked Union Home & Cooperation Minister Amit Shah for sanctioning computerization of ARDBS as a central sector Scheme and expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Cooperation for initiating and finalizing this scheme in record time.
In his reaction, UP Sahkari Gram Vikas Bank Managing Director Shashi Rao said, “We are happy with the decision, which is the need of the hour and will surely bring transparency in the working of ARDBs spread across the country. Honorable Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah fulfilled the long pending demands. We are hoping that the scheme will be implemented successfully”.
It bears recalling that there are 323 branches of UP Sahkari Gram Vikas Bank and earlier in a presentation to Nafcard, the bank submitted that the estimated cost to be incurred in doing computerization of their branches would cost around Rs 13 crore.
Talking to the Indian Cooperative, a few other representatives of SCARDBs also welcomed the decision and thanked Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah for fulfilling our demand.
On the lines of computerization scheme of all PACS in the country, a centrally sponsored scheme has been approved for computerization of 1,851 units of ARDBs of 13 states through a national unified software and computerization of offices of Registrar of Cooperatives of all States/Union Territories similar to Central Registrar.
Kerala State Cooperative Agricultural and Rural Development Bank Director K Sivadasan Nair thanked the Government of India for sanctioning the scheme for computerization of PACS.
“That’s a good move and long pending demand fulfilled. In Kerala there is a federal structure, which means Kerala SCARDB at the top and PCARDB at the primary level. There are 76 PCARDB in Kerala of which a few are in losses and the rest are in profit”, said Nair.
A Central Project Monitoring Unit (PMU) will be established for this scheme, which will work towards the successful implementation of the scheme. The total estimated expenditure for this scheme will be Rs 225.09 crore.
The implementation of this scheme will not only enable people to quickly access services provided by Cooperative Departments of states and offices of ARDBs but will also bring transparency and uniformity in the functioning of these offices, which will make them more efficient and save the time, reads a govt. press release.
