MUMBAI, 28 February 2022: In a major development, NABARD has given permission to Maharashtra State Cooperative (MSC) Bank to give short-term refinance to the Primary Agriculture Credit Cooperative Societies (PACCs), connected with those District Cooperative Central Bank (DCCBs) which are weak or not in a position to give finance to them.
The MSC Bank can only give refinance to those PACCs which are its members. Now the bank has called the special general meeting through video conferencing today to make the respective amendments in the bye-laws of MSC Bank.
In the bye-laws no. 14 (a) the new sub-clause (vi) is to be added as, is a borrower PACCs who is a member of respective DCCBs and to whom the said DCC Bank has issued No Objection Certificate to become a ‘B’ class member of the bank. After making changes, it will be sent to the Registrar of Cooperative Societies for approval, and I hope that the process will be started from the beginning of the next FY.
A euphoric Chairman of the Administrative Board of MSC Bank Vidyadhar Anaskar said, “We have got the approval after 2.5 years and this step will not only help the PACCs but also DCCBs to generate income.
“Out of 31DCCBs in the state, five DCCBs’ financial position is not good and their NPA exceeds 70 per cent”. It is reported that NPAs of six DCCBs including Beed, Nagpur, Osmanabad, Buldana, Wardha are worrying”, he underlined.
“In view of the difficulties faced by eligible farmers, the MSC Bank had drawn up a unique scheme to provide direct loans to farmers through eligible Primary Agricultural Societies and the policy for the same was submitted to NABARD for approval”, he recalled.
He added that the loans will be monitored by concerned DCC Banks. These banks will also assist the MSC Bank in managing these accounts and recovery of the crop loans. One per cent of the recovery amount will be paid to these DCC Banks as service charges. This is the first scheme of its kind in the Country”, Anaskar informed.
There are 21k PACCs in the state and on average 900 farmers are linked with each PACCs.
Maharashtra State Cooperative (MSC) Bank had earned a net profit of Rs 369 crore in the 2020-2021 FY, the highest ever in the history of the bank.
Image credit: bridgeindia.org.uk
