In response to a directive from the RBI the Punjab govt. has decided to begin a process that would prevent politicians and their supporters from controlling central cooperative banks in the state.
In a strange coincidence readers could recall that IFFCO Managing Director U S Awasthi had recently told Indian Cooperative that politicos should desist from joining cooperative affairs. Echoing his views RBI passed a similar direction in the wake of large-scale bungling in the affairs of the cooperative banks across states.
Awasthi had credited IFFCO’s success to the presence of hard-boiled cooperators and absence of politicos on the Board.
Coming to Punjab, there are altogether a score of these banks and all of them would soon be liberated from the baneful influence of politicians. The move say sources would mean a thoroughgoing professionalization of cooperative banks. The news is that the state cabinet has already given the go-ahead.
The 20 central cooperative banks have around 6 hundred branches across the state that annually dole out loans of Rs 10 thousand crore to farmers. Disbursement of such a huge amount has been the allure of politically governing these banks in Punjab.
Sources say the weeding out process would usher in a great change in the banking sector as the political heads were absolutely innocent of professional ability to take complex financial decisions.
According to official sources, the process of finding qualified professionals to join the banks would begin as soon as possible.