WB to strengthen cooperative banks to help farmers, SHGs

The West Bengal government is working towards strengthening the activities of state cooperative banks to help people, specially the farmers and Self Help Groups (SHGs), in remote areas without any banking infrastructure, state minister Arup Roy said Wednesday.

Proper networking of the state cooperative banks would help provide banking services and loans to people, who remained helpless for want of banks in many villages, he said.

The move is being undertaken following the directive of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, state Cooperation Minister Arup Roy said.

"NationalCooperativeWeek begins today. Our government has been working to strengthen the cooperative society network in #Bangla by opening cooperatives in far-flung regions as well as enabling them to provide banking services and loans for agriculture & to self-help groups," Banerjee wrote on her Twitter handle.

"We are committed to open 2631 Customer Service Point (CSP) of the State Cooperative Banks in different villages, where there is no banking service till now, for the benefit of people," he said.

Of them 250 centres have already been set up, he said.

Announcing the expansion of the services of state cooperative banks to mark the system's centenary year celebration, Roy said even a few months back, 776 gram panchayats in the state had no branch of any bank.

Of them, 50 GPs have already received branches of district cooperative banks, while works were on to set up branches in the remaining GPs, the minister said.

While SHGs in the state had received Rs 1,000 crore loan in 2017-18 financial year, state cooperative banks have set up their target to sanction Rs 1,200 crore loan among the SHGs during 2018-19, Roy said.

Distribution of loans to farmers, which stood at Rs 5,200 crore in 2017-18, has been increased to Rs 7,000 crore in the year 2018-19, he added.

The minister said a four-day 'Cooperative Fair 2018' from November 19 would be held on the occasion of 'National Cooperative Week'.

Around 12,000 delegates from different cooperative societies will attend the fair.

The state government would give away awards to a select cooperative societies for their performance, Roy said.