Leaving co-op fold: After Saraswat its SVC’s turn

The rechristened Shamrao Vithal Cooperative bank – the country’s third leading urban cooperative bank may morph into a commercial bank, said chairman Suresh Hemmady.

Talking to Indian Cooperative, bank’s Chairman Mr Hemmady clarified” we have not changed the name of the bank but only its logo.”

The bank’s board has given its approval for conversion and the new logo is preparation for the goal.

Earlier, the leading UCB of the country Saraswat Cooperative Bank had attempted to convert itself into a full-fledged commercial bank. Talking to Indian Cooperative its Chairman Eknath Thakur had said that the framework of UCB is restrictive for growth after a point. However, its attempt is yet to fructify.

According to Hemmady, the Chairman of SVC bank it would await regulatory clarifications from the RBI and approach the apex bank with a formal proposal later.

The bank’s MD Shrinivas Joshi claimed the bank controls 4 percent of the cooperative banking business in the country and aims to spike its balance -sheet to Rs. 45 thousand crore in the next years.

The SVC has branches in nine states across the country and would add more than a score of new branches this year. The bank’s 75 percent business involves loans to MSMEs and a meagre 13 percent retail loans. The bank had a net profit of Rs. 103 last fiscal with an annual turnover of Rs. 17, 500 crore in the current fiscal. The bank has more than half a million of customers including 60 thousand current account holders.

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