Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Jan 3: Despite all odds, the Citizens’ Cooperative Bank Ltd Jammu has registered profit for the third consecutive quarter of the current financial year.
Official sources told the Excelsior that the bank has so far registered more than Rs 94 lakh profit in the current financial year inspite of various restraints due to scarcity of its capital requirement quite like other three Urban Cooperative Banks of J&K Union Territory, which are still surviving out of their own resources without any Government support.
Even as the CCBL, which is in the service of Jammuties for more than four decades and attained growth and expansion into its 15 units despite all odds, has been registering profit, the scope of improvement can be seen in the financial health of this biggest Urban Cooperative Bank in J&K, in case, the Govt comes forward to extend an helping hand.
Pertinent to mention here that the Govt of Jammu and Kashmir has either meagerly or not subscribed to the equity of the Urban Cooperative Banks while as all other banks, including loss making banks of Cooperative Sector in the field of Agriculture are vigorously subscribed to their equity and even extended long term soft loaning to those institutions.
From the point of view of financial strength, the CCBL Jammu as well as other Urban Cooperative Banks are at better end for having created few assets at their own. However, owing to lack of resources and no financial support either in equity or otherwise to such institutions from the Govt, the non-banking asset created by this bank could not be brought to end use.
The CCBL Jammu, in its struggle under the effective management of professionals and experts in their respective fields appointed by Registrar Cooperative Societies as Board of Administrators and headed by Dr Arun Manhas (KAS) as its Chairman, has made it possible to make the bank earn profits. Advocate Deepika Mahajan, Rajneesh Mahajan (Assistant Vice-President, J&K) Bank and CA Rajat Mengi are members of the management board.
“Had there been a little attention from the Govt to Urban Cooperative Banks like The Citizens’ Cooperative Bank Ltd Jammu, the size and services of this bank could have been extended in the entire Jammu Province,” said Arun Manhas.
Contrary to it, the apex level Agricultural Cooperative Banks such as J&K SCARD Bank Ltd, which came to be formed many years back the formation of The Citizens’ Cooperative Bank Ltd Jammu, has not been able to create even a single asset and its financial position too is not appreciable .
The capital requirement proposal for all the four Urban Cooperative Banks was sent to Government to contribute Rs 19 crores, out of which Rs 10 crores for CCBL and Rs 3 crores each for other three UCBs. However, so far, there has been no response of the Government to the proposal.
“Contribution of Rs 10 crores share capital by the Government is required as immediate step to improve the financial health of CCBL or the bank has to dispose of non-banking assets to wipe out accumulated losses,” explained Dr Arun Manhas, adding that recovery of NPAs was already on top agenda of the CCBL management.
It is high time that Govt of J&K should rise to the occasion to help out such Urban Cooperative Banks to come out of the problem of their equity and take necessary steps to subscribe to the needs of these Cooperative Banks for their smooth sailing in the banking arena during such stiff competition of banking era so that these banks are enabled to stand and grow without resorting to the efforts for disposal of their non-banking assets to meet their equity requirement as being enforced by the Reserve Bank of India, the Regulatory authority on these Cooperative Banks.
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