In the wake of Narendra Modi’s govt dissuading officials and leaders of undertaking minimum of foreign trips, COBI Chairman G H Amin has a counter and he says what decides about a trip is its purpose. PM is not for blanket ban on foreign trips, Amin seems to suggest.
Readers would know that the Cooperative Banks of India (COBI) leaders who hold annual conferences on foreign soil year after year have chosen Greece in the Mediterranean this year. Last December they visited Budapest, Hungary in East Europe.
“Several co-operators numbering more than 35 from India are going to attend the event. The Conference is slated for 21 to 23rd August”, informed Ghanshyambhai H Amin who is heading the delegation.
COBI which is the apex body of all banks-co-op banks, UCBs, Land Mortgage banks, etc is without a license of its own.
Justifying the foreign sojourn which leads desi banks to exposure, Amin argues that COBI may not have a license of its own but its members do have licenses. “They cannot on their own hold an international conference where industry experts are called to give lecture”, said Amin.
International conferences come in handy understanding the best practices in the banking sector, he underlined while saying that even Punjab’s Cooperation Minister is part of the delegation this year.
Among the 35 names, prominent ones include Chandra Pal Singh Yadav, NCUI President, Dileep Sanghani, NAFSCOB Chairman, among others.
Amin also explained that co-operators are going on their own as most of them have been funded from their parent co-ops for the trip. “COBI only charges Rs 65 thousand per person for the trip which includes their lodging and food for the days”, Amin explained.
Amin talks in terms of adopting cutting edge technologies in the co-operative banking sector. He told Indian Cooperative that it is his wish that co-op banks in the country should adopt Mobile banking, digital technology and all other tech devices one hears about these days.
Amin also vowed to make renewed efforts to secure license for the Cooperative Bank of India (COBI)- an issue that has somehow throttled the growth of the apex body.