SC stays Orissa HC order on co-operative bodies

In a significant development, the Supreme Court on Friday stayed the verdict of Orissa High Court that had quashed the state government nominated councils for running co-operative banks in the state.
While granting this relief to the state government, the apex court has served notices to the elected council of the co-operative bodies to present counter and appear before the court for final disposal of the case.
The state government had challenged the High Court order in the apex court on appointment of government nominees in the cooperative bodies.
The Supreme Court's direction has come as a solace to the state government as the nominated panels can now manage the various cooperative bodies in place of the elected bodies.
It may be noted that, in December last year, the Orissa High Court had quashed the government nominated councils and ordered for conduct of election within six months.
On September 24, 2011, the state government had dismissed all the elected councils of cooperative bodies by enforcing the Orissa Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Act, 2011, and had nominated panels to manage them.
Terming the move as illegal and arbitrary, elected members of 24 cooperative bodies had filed petitions in the High Court. The petitioners included elected members of various urban cooperative banks, central cooperative banks and marketing co-op societies.
The banks include Orissa State Cooperative Bank, Puri Urban Cooperative bank, Nuapada RCMS, Alaka Central Cooperative Store and six central cooperative banks.
The central cooperative banks include Cuttack Central Cooperative Bank, Aska Central Cooperative Bank, Nayagarh Central Cooperative Bank, Bhadrak-Balasore Central Cooperative Bank, Banki Central Cooperative Bank and Bhawanipatna Central Cooperative Bank.

NCUI: Presidential massage on New Year 2012

On the eve of New Year 2012, I extend my warm greetings and best wishes to the fellow cooperators, employees, leaders and members of various cooperative societies and their families.  The cooperative sectors play an important role in the mainstream of Indian Economy, agriculture & social development.  They have direct & indirect impact on socio economic development and promote and support entrepreneurial development, creating productive employment, raising income, reducing poverty and creating social harmony

HUDCO tax free bonds issue to open on January 27

Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) is issuing tax free bonds with a face value of Rs 1,000 each in the nature of secured, redeemable, non-convertible debentures having benefits under section 10(15)(iv)(h) of the Income Tax Act, 1961, as amended, aggregating Rs 2,000 crore with an option to retain an oversubscription of up to Rs 4,684.72 crore (shelf limit).
The minimum application size is ten (10) bonds and in multiples of one (1) bond thereafter. The issue will open on January 27, 2012, and will close on February 6, 2012, or earlier, or may be extended by such period, upto a period of 30 days from the date of opening of the issue, as may be decided by the board of the company or by a duly constituted committee.
The bonds carry a coupon rate of 8.10% for Tranche-I

Ramgarhiya coop bank chairman urges easing of tax burdens

RBI and government invariably equate the cooperative banks with the national banks and accordingly pursue a flawed policy of collecting the same type of tax from both. It is unreasonable to force the cooperative banks to pay a high tax,said Mr Inderjeer Singhjee Chairman of Ramgarhiya Cooperative bank in Delhi.
If government is keen to keep the cooperative banks

Don’t follow US taxation: Jamia Coop Bank Chairman

Following in America’s footsteps by effecting a spike in taxation on the cooperative banks would have disastrous consequences, warned Prof Asad Ali, Chairman of Jamia Cooperative bank while talking to Indian Cooperative.com in Delhi.
If the urban cooperative banks continued to pay high taxes, most of them might unravel, he added.
According to Prof Ali, the coop banks are much smaller in size and can barely compare with the national banks.
The govt should bring in a taxation policy that strengthens the capacity of these banks to serve the weaker sections of society. The coop banks are doing a job, the big commercial banks can never do. This simple fact should be adequately appreciated by the govt and the RBI,he asserted.
Founded in 1995, Jamia Cooperative bank has six branches in all. It has posted a net profit of more than 2 crore this year. The bank is working hard to increase its annual profit.
The bank is being democratically governed by a board of 12 directors and has decided to open new branches in Nurnagar and Badarpur.
Jamia Cooperative bank has never attracted any punitive action from the RBI though it transacts business of more than 118 crore. It has been able to win the excellence award in the year 2001-2, claimed its Chairman. Along with Nafcub it intends to celebrate international year of cooperative,2012.
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www.indiancooperative.com

RBI cracks down on violations by co-operative banks

Every four-and-a-half days during this fiscal, at least one cooperative bank has been either penalized or stripped of its licence to operate, as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cracks down on rule violations by these banks.
Overall, 73 such banks have either been penalized or asked to shut by the banking regulator so far this fiscal, signalling its lack of tolerance for breach of norms by the institutions. The comparable figure in the last fiscal was 44 banks and in 2010, 31 banks.
Ten banks each were asked to shut down in 2011 and

Urban Cooperative Banks are unique: Khatri Bank Chairman

It was a pity that in spite of their long and close association with the cooperative movement,  several leaders at national level had not yet thought it necessary  to exert their  influence in favour of the cooperative movement.  Weighed down by the government’s negative attitude cooperative banks are suffering greatly , noted P R Mehra, Chairman Khatri  Cooperative Bank  in an exclusive interview with  the  indiancooperative.com  correspondent in New Delhi.
The cooperative banks are playing an important role in the Indian economy providing people with banking services in areas where the big commercial banks were shy of operating.
It was therefore strange that the Indian government followed   policies that weakened the cooperative banks and their resolve to make their valuable contributions to the country’s economy, Chairman added.
Instead of bringing in policies favourable to the co-op banking sector, the govt imposed restrictions and taxes on it impairing its ability to work. Direct tax code was a case in point, Mr Mehra added.
Mr Mehra claims his bank has had a reasonably good career. It posts an annual profit of a little less than 2 crore net. It has about 50 thousand account holders with an annual turnover working out to an impressive Rs 184 crore.
Established way back in 1939, it is one of the oldest banks in the capital. It will soon undergo complete computarization. It has always been functioning in conformity with the rules laid down by the govt and has never attracted adverse comments or punishments from the Reserve Bank of India.
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courtesy : www.indiancooperative.com

Obtaining Coop Bank Licence won’t be tough: Abhyankar

Many persons approach the office of Indiancooperative.com to find out what is happening on the fronts of granting licence to Urban Cooperative Banks. We decided to find out the truth from horse’s mouth.
Mr Mukund Abhyankar, Member of the Malegam Committee which was entrusted with the job of doing a threadbare analysis of issues and suggest recommendations for the grant of licence was kind enough to have consented for an interview.
Mr Abhyankar is a renowned cooperative leader

RBI allows co-op banks to fix NRE deposit rates

MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank today allowed cooperative and primary urban cooperative banks to fix their interest rates on various non-resident deposit schemes.
Extending the ambit of its recent decision to deregulate deposit rates, RBI said, "Banks are free to determine their interest rates on both savings deposits and term deposits of maturity of one year and above under Non-Resident (External) Rupee deposit accounts and savings deposits under Ordinary Non-Resident accounts with immediate effect."

Courtesy : Economic Times