Sahakar Bharati has welcomed the statement of the RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan on the need to streamline and strengthen the working of Co-operative Banks as reported in these columns earlier.
In a detailed comment on the story, the patron of Sahakar Bharati Satish Marathe has appealed to both the Union Govt and the RBI to review the working of the UCBs, DCCs and Apex Banks and prepare a Vision Document with a Roadmap for growth and development of the Co-operative Banking Sector.
Based on the experience of the last few years, initiate steps to modify provisions of the MOUs between the RBI/NABARD and the State Govts to improve governance and to reduce intervention of State Govts, Marathe demanded.
He also felt need of the amendments to Banking Regulation Act to empower itself to more effectively develop and regulate the Cooperative Banking Sector.
Privatisation of the Co-operative Banking Sector is no solution to the constraints and challenges being faced by these Banks. Need of the hour is – Legal and Financial Empowerment of this Sector for all round growth, Marthe underlined.
Cooperative Banking Sector should equally benefit from the changes that are being ushered in the Financial and Banking Sector so that it can play a major role in achieving equitable and sustainable growth through financial inclusion, he exhorted to the RBI Governor.
Earlier, speaking in Bhopal RBI governor Raghuram Rajan had called for streamlining of cooperative banks and providing basic facilities to micro, small and medium entrepreneurial groups in the country.
Along with this, the RBI has also envisaged a time frame of five years for its massive education campaign across the country. The most effective way is to weave financial education into the normal content of curricula in educational institutions, he said. Farmers and students are its first targets, Rajan underlined.