Kochi:
The Kerala State Cooperative Bank has reduced the interest
rates for its loans and has announced that it will make
available Rs 1,000-crore short-term loans through cooperatives
to the crisis-hit agriculture sector of the state.
The bank president
P A Ummer said it has also been decided to reduce the
interest for loans from April 2002. As per this, the interest
rate for loans up to Rs 50,000 will be 13 per cent; 14
per cent for loans up to Rs 2 lakh; and 15 per cent for
the loans up to Rs 5 lakh. Saying that the agriculture
sector will be the priority in the scheme of things in
the coming days, he said the bank has decided to provide
Rs 200 crore as loan to Rubco.
Ummer said a new loan scheme has being chalked out, as
data collected from primary district cooperative banks
have shown that the agriculture sector is not getting
priority. A scheme has already been submitted to the
government.
During 2002-2003 the bank targeted mobilisation of deposit
to the tune of Rs 1932.88 crore, disbursement of loans
to the tune of Rs 1458.55 crore, an income of Rs 264.04
crore and expenditure of Rs 254.28 crore. The bank also
envisaged a profit of Rs 176 lakh during the next year.
The bank announced that it will make available Rs 500
crore as loan for a consortium formed in taluk, district
and state levels in the cooperative sector to procure
agriculture produces, process them and to market them
in domestic and international markets, agriculture-based
small- and large-scale industries to construct bridges,
bypasses, flyovers, shopping complexes and power generating
units.
Ummer said equitable mortgaging will be made available
to those taking loans from the primary banks, apart from
providing assistance to self-help groups. It has also
been decided to set up a surplus fund management wing
in the bank, help the formation of an apex body for helping
the processing and exporting of oil seeds, and to constitute
a separate fund for providing rebate in interest for non-defaulters
of loans.
As part of converting the loss-making primary banks into
profit-making ones, he said a scheme will be chalked out
by the Agricultural
Cooperative Staff Training Institute (a unit that works
under the bank), and will enter into an agreement with
primary banks, on the basis of which financial assistance
will be provided.
Ummer said it has also been decided to computerise all
the cooperative banks and to develop software for introducing
a unified accounting system for banks.
|