Odisha Govt To Refund Bhubaneswar Urban Cooperative Bank Depositors’ Money

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government would refund money of depositors of now defunct Urban Cooperative Bank Limited, Bhubaneswar.

Speaking at the launch of 1,542 Multipurpose Primary Agriculture Cooperatives (MPACs), Chief Minister Mohan Majhi informed about his government’s decision to return the money of the depositors to re-establish people’s trust in the cooperative banking system.

The Urban Cooperative Bank, Bhubaneswar, was granted a licence by the RBI on September 7, 1987, to conduct banking business. It reported deteriorating financial position in 2003. Though the government made several attempts for revival of the bank by infusing Rs six crore in 2006, it failed to change its fortune.

It shut operations in 2015 after the RBI cancelled its licence after an attempt to merger it with the Cosmos Cooperative Bank of Pune failed. A total of 13,797 depositors lost around Rs 30 crore because of it, while loans worth Rs 17.82 crore remained uncollected from 1,760 customers.

The CM further stated the government has decided to take up 54 programmes under the cooperative sector, which would include introduction of model by-laws to diversify the Primary Agriculture Cooperatives, strengthening them through computerisation, supply of fertilisers and seeds, setting up public medicine centres, common service centres and agricultural service centres, among others.

“The state government has decided to develop 77 PACs as model PACs in the first phase. These model PACs will act as a one-stop shop, where all types of agriculture-related services will be available,” he said, adding that the aim is to restore people’s trust in cooperatives and make them a major engine of rural economic development.

He added that more than 90 per cent of the agricultural families of the state are provided with various services for agricultural work through PACs.