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The Centre, the state government and the RBI should encourage setting up of more urban co-operative banks as they fulfil the local needs of the people in many urban areas, which the scheduled commercial banks are not able to address, according to M. Anjaneyulu, Chairman (Emeritus) of Visakhapatnam Urban Co-operative Bank.
He was speaking at a meeting at Seethammadhara here on Thursday after the inauguration of the first branch of the Rajahmundry-based Aryapuram Co-operative Urban Bank in the city. It is the fourteenth branch of the Aryapuram Co-op Bank, which has 13 branches in the two Godavari districts.
Anjaneyulu said there were 48 urban co-operative banks in the 13 districts of Andhra Pradesh and "all of them are doing reasonably well with no black mark against them. Still, these banks are not getting the encouragement they deserve. Experience has shown us that if any urban co-operative bank fails, it is only because of the wrong policies of the Government."
He said many of the banks had passed through a harrowing time during demonetisation and they were now on the path of recovery. In the aftermath of demonetisation, "the Government is focusing on promoting digital transactions, which is good, but cyber security is of great concern. Our systems should not be vulnerable to hackers."
Aryapuram Co-operative Bank Chairman Ch. Sankara Rao said the bank, set up 99 years ago with capital of Rs 300 at Rajahmundry, would celebrate its centenary next year. "We now have deposits of Rs 570 crore, advances of Rs 330 crore, and own funds of Rs 65 crore, with a membership base of 90,000. We are paying 15 per cent dividend to our shareholders every year and we plan to extend our activities to other districts in the state," he said.
Ch. Ravindra, Chairman of Kakinada Co-operative Bank and former MP, said "it is really atrocious that people are not allowed to withdraw their own monies from banks thanks to demonetisation. The curbs on cash withdrawals will be lifted from next month. Hopefully, things will improve."
M. Venkataramana, Managing Director of the CMR group, made the first deposit of Rs 9,000 in the bank.
V.L Prasad Pedpati, the branch manager, said there was also an on-site ATM and the branch would offer all services offered by the commercial banks.
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