It is a story of how demonetization and adoption of GST have affected the business of many small urban co-operative banks in the country in the last financial year. The case in point is Malad Sahakari Bank which presented its balance sheet on the occasion its 43rd Annual General Meeting held in Malad (W) recently.
Addressing the AGM Malad Sahakari Bank Chairman Vinod Mishra informed “The FY 2017-18 was marked by critical economic conditions which had arisen due to demonetization and implementation of GST- these two developments had affected the business in the first half of the year”.
“The deposit of the bank decreased in the FY 2017-18 compared to the financial year 2016-17. The Deposits of the Bank witnessed a marginal fall by 1.59% and reached Rs 379.97 Cr. as on March 31, 2018, as against Rs 386.10 Cr. in the FY 2017”, Mishra said.
Loan and Advances increased by 7 % and touched Rs 187.61 crore as on March 31, 2017 as against Rs 200.70 Crore in the FY 2017-18 previous year. The business mix of the bank stood at 428.16 crore”, Mishra said while sharing the figures.
“The profit of the bank decreased this year on account of an Income Tax matter which ate up Rs 2 crore from its our
balance sheet. However, the Bank achieved a net profit of Rs 1.6 crore in FY 2017-18 whereas in FY 2016-17 the bank had earned a higher profit of Rs 3.41 crore”, Mishra told this correspondent on the phone.
On the positive side, the repayment of loans by borrowers substantially increased this year. Gross NPA decreased from 5.95% to 4.00% and net NPA from 1.54 % to 0.00%, Chairman Mishra said proudly.
The Board of Directors of the UCB are, however decided to give 10 percent dividend for its over 22,000 shareholders. They were also enthusiastic and discussed the future plans for taking the bank to newer heights.
Highlighting the bank’s future goals and targets, the Bank Chairman said, “We are planning to take the license from RBI to open four branches across Maharashtra with an objective to expand our areas of operation. We have also planned to start Internet banking”.
Malad Sahakari Bank was established in 1976 by the people residing in Malad. Presently the bank has five branches and one extension counter across Maharashtra.
There are several cooperators who, however felt that the early pangs of a new regime-GST – is going away with the passage of time. In fact, it is ushering in an era of transparency and tax-related peace of mind to us, they opined.
