Cooperative banks need to adopt new technologies for progress: Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday called upon the cooperative banks to adopt new technologies for progress.

He said that the cooperative sector has taken major initiatives to fulfil Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two resolutions comprising a Viksit Bharat by 2047 and to make the country’s economy $5 trillion by 2027.

“While fulfilling these resolutions, work for every person according to his capacity and making every family prosperous and involving every person in the development of the country is being done through the cooperative sector. The Ministry of Cooperation was established for the development of the cooperative sector. In the last 10 years, 70 crore poor people of the country have been provided with facilities like houses, electricity, gas, water, toilets, health insurance up to Rs 5 lakh and 5 kg of food grains to each person every month. There is no alternative to the cooperative sector for the development of the family and the country,” said the Home Minister while speaking at the Diamond Jubilee celebration of the Janata Sahakari, Multi Scheduled Bank in Pune.

He, however, reiterated that while making progress in the cooperative sector, ‘it is necessary for cooperative banks to adopt new technologies’.

Amit Shah said that the cooperative sector has been moving towards progress in the last three years.

“The Central government has decided to set up regional offices of the Central Cooperative Registrar and the first office in the country is being opened in Pune. These regional offices will strengthen the scheduled banks. An umbrella organisation is working for urban cooperative banks and so far Rs 300 crore has been deposited in this organisation. The umbrella organisation has become capable of helping cooperative banks and it will help cooperative banks to update its core banking and become technologically more efficient,” he said.

The Home Minister added: “Through the umbrella organisation, the State Cooperative Bank of India Clearing House for urban cooperatives, district cooperative banks and state cooperative banks in the country will be established within the next two years.”

He added that a committee will be formed to implement innovations in cooperative banks to survive in the competition of nationalised banks.

According to him, the Ministry of Cooperatives has done many works to increase the business of urban cooperative banks. He said there are 1,465 urban cooperative banks in the country, out of which Maharashtra has the highest number of 460 such banks.