Andhra Co-Op Banks Turn To Image-Building

Following the Krushi Bank fiasco, many co-operative bank depositors in Andhra Pradesh are withdrawing their money and opting less remunerative but relatively safer avenues such as the nationalised banks.

To boost investors' confidence, a few co-operative urban banks in the state have published their financials in newspapers with assurance that depositors' money is in safe hands.

The Prudential Co-operative Bank, one of the oldest banks in Hyderabad, which has a deposit base of Rs 570 crore, had to issue an advertisement saying that its deposits are insured with the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation of India and advance insurance premium is remitted up to December this year. The bank has further assured that it has given loans and advances against 200 per cent security.

 

Deposits in the 141 co-operative banks in the state are estimated to be over Rs 3,000 crore. Charminar Bank, which triggered the Krushi fiasco by withdrawing its Rs 30 crore inter-bank deposit from the Krishi Co-operative Bank, had to resort to a publicity campaign, saying that its financial transactions with other institutions and clients are on sound footings. The bank has a deposit base of around Rs 500 crore from 3,96,000 clients.

Meanwhile, Manam Anjaneyulu, an ex-member of the legislature assembly and the president of the Andhra Pradesh Urban and Town Co-operative Banks' union, conducted a press meet in Visakhapatnam on Saturday to condemn the attack on the co-operative urban bank system and said a state-level meeting will be held in Hyderabad to discuss the matter. The national urban co-operative banks' union meeting, scheduled to be held in Bangalore on August 22, will also discuss the situation, he said.