One of the founding members of Sahakar Bharati and RBI Central Board Director Satish Marathe brought laurels to the cooperative sector by receiving the prestigious Dr. R Parnerkar Economic Award 2022 on Sunday last week.
The award was given to him for his outstanding contributions to the cooperative movement in general and the field of Economics and International Studies in particular. He was offered Shawal and memento, among others things.
The award was bestowed on Marathe by the Poornawad Life Management Institute in the august presence of Dr. V.R. Parnerkar, Advisor to the said institute.
As soon as the award was given away to Marathe, the social media was flooded with congratulatory messages and wishes.
Along with Vakil Saheb, he founded Sahakar Bharati. Sahakar Bharati was registered in the year 1979 and Marathe continues to be a member of its National Executive Council. Previously, he was the Savrakshak (Patron) for 3 years and also President for 6 years.
Under his able guidance, Sahakar Bharati has spread its activities all over India and presently, over 20,000 Cooperatives are associated with it. Sahakar Bharati is the largest NGO in the Cooperative Sector in the country.
Marathe started his banking career in the Bank of India and rose to be the Chairman and CEO of The United Western Bank Ltd (from 2002 to 2006). Earlier, in September 1991, he became CEO of Janakalyan Sahakari Bank Ltd. which recorded high consistent growth during his 10-year tenure.
Marathe is the Founder Director of the Centre for Studies & Research in Co-Operation, a Foundation registered under Section 8 of the Indian Companies Act, 2013 for undertaking Study and Research in the Cooperative Sector.
Marathe was born on February 1, 1950. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce and Law (Gen) from the University of Bombay. He also holds a Diploma in Journalism (Gold Medallist from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan).
He has been representing the Co-operative Sector in Pre Budget meetings with Finance Ministers for the past several years. In 2015, IFFCO conferred Sahakarita Ratna Award on Shri Satish Marathe. He is the only recipient of the Award from Maharashtra.
Even his detractors confess that Marathe is totally committed to the idea of cooperation. Being one of the first to raise the idea of co-operative as a business enterprise, Marathe has always advocated the viability of a co-op unit. A great votary of new-age co-operatives, Marathe has been working hard to diversify the co-op sector into new areas.
Talking to Indian Cooperative on the state of co-operatives in the country, Marathe felt that Agri processing is an area where co-ops can play a major role. “We could be export competitive only through setting up high tech Agri processing units in villages under the cooperative banner”, he said.
