National Cooperative Agriculture and Rural Development Banks Federation (NAFCARD) is organizing a National Conference of ARDBs at the NCUI auditorium on Saturday, which is going to be inaugurated by Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah.
The event is particularly designed for State Cooperative Agriculture & Rural Development Banks (SCARDBs). It is for the first time that the Union Cooperation Minister will attend an event at the NCUI auditorium.
On this occasion, Union Minister of State from Cooperation BL Verma, Cooperation Secretary Gyanesh Kumar, Dileep Sanghani, NCUI President, Dr Chandra Pal Singh Yadav, President, ICA AP and other senior officials of the cooperative department will grace the occasion. More than 800 participants are likely to be part of the event.
Later talking to the Indian Cooperative, the newly elected Chairman of NCARDB said, “Kheti Banks have been doing spectacular work for the benefit of farmers of the country since the country’s Independence but due to several challenges the sector failed to move forward. So, with the event, we are trying to build new energy in the SCARDBs to make ourselves empowered”.
“Technology adoption is a big challenge for these banks. It will be a unique event and we are geared up to make the event successful”, he added.
It bears recalling that BJP leader Dollar Kotecha was elected Chairman of the apex body NAFCARD ending the supremacy of former MLA from Congress Party K Sivadasan Nair recently.
The Federation is also holding an Award Function on the occasion to felicitate SCARDBs in Kerala, Karnataka, Gujarat and West Bengal for outstanding performance in lending, recovery and improvement in other parameters of performance during 2020-21.
There are 16 State Cooperative Agriculture & Rural Development Banks (SCARDBs) of which only 13 are fully functional with a network of 1,737 PCARDBs/branches at the ground level. These banks have a membership base of more than 88 lakh.
The total loans and borrowings outstanding of these banks as of 31.03.2021 were Rs 20,926 crores and Rs 12,893 crores respectively. As of 31st March 2021, the total deposits of these SCARDBs stood at Rs 2,238 crores. NCARDB has its headquarters at Navi Mumbai.