Kerala co-ops on deposit mobilisation drive

Target Rs 4500 crore in the one-month period

The total deposits of Kerala’s co-operative sector has increased to Rs 84,875 crore, which is 40.51 per cent of the overall deposits in all banks of the state. This is against a total deposit of Rs 69,540 crore in August 2011, recording a growth of 22 per cent.

According to the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC), the aggregate deposits in the banking sector of the state stood at Rs 209,489 crore, as on June 30, 2012.

The co-operative sector is now on a special drive to mobilise more deposits. It is offering 0.25 per cent additional interest during the one-month-long drive that ends December 31.

The State Co-operative Bank, which is spearheading the co-operative credit movement, has set a target to mobilise Rs 4,500 crore during this period. Last year, it mobilised Rs 4,425.09 crore as against a target of Rs 3,000 crore.

This year, according to the officials of the co-operative department, the total collection would cross Rs 5,000 crore.

The one-month-long deposit mobilisation programme started in the state way back in 1976 and the target set was Rs 20 crore. The first campaign saw Rs 26.55 crore. During 1976 to 2001, Rs 7245.57 crore was collected against a cumulative target of Rs 2,200 crore. The best performance was in 2001 when Rs 1,025.86 crore was collected as against a target of Rs 200 crore.

The co-operative banks in the state offer 1 per cent additional interest on deposits than the commercial banks. The primary co-operative banks now offer up to 10 per cent interest on term deposits.

Kerala has a three-tier system in the co-operative credit mechanism — State Co-operative Bank at the apex, 14 district co-operative banks in the middle and 2,502 primary co-operative credit societies at the base level. In addition, there are 85 urban co-operative banks and 1,013 employees credit societies, according to SLBC.

The high NPA level is a major concern of this sector — the net NPA is 15.31 per cent and the quantum of amount has increased to Rs 414.55 crore.

Kerala’s co-operative sector is now set to introduce the core banking facility across all the banks. CBS has already been implemented in State Co-operative Bank and most of the district co-operative banks, said S Raveendran, managing director of State Co-operative Bank.

The bank aims to complete core banking in this sector by next March with the active participation of Nabard. A number of district co-operative banks have also introduced ATM service.