The Maharashtra government has set up a nine-member committee to study the impact of COVID-19 on the three tier cooperative credit system in the state and make recommendations. This is necessary as there are more than 2 lakh cooperative organisations with 5.5 crore members, Rs 3.5 lakh crore floating capital and over 3 lakh employees. Their functioning has been adversely impacted because of nationwide lockdown and they will need state government support to stay afloat.
The committee is chaired by the state cooperative commissioner Anil Kawade. The committee will submit its report within two months.
The state’s three tier cooperative credit structure comprises the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) at the helm, District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) in the middle and Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies at the village level. DCCBs play a crucial role in providing agricultural and crop loans to the farmers, while MSCB is engaged in refinance.
The Central Financing Agencies Department of MSCB caters to the financing needs of District Central Cooperative Banks for providing agricultural and aon-agricultural advances under various refinance schemes of NABARD. Funds are used to rehabilitate poor farmers through Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies and District Central Cooperative Banks.
Further, the government has also formed another committee to examine the COVID-19 impact on urban cooperative banks and urban and rural non agricultural credit organisations. The committee will be chaired by the Maharashtra State Urban Banks Federation President Vidyadhar Anaskar.
Urban cooperative banks and urban and rural non-agricultural credit organisations play a crucial role in providing loans to professionals and the working class. The committee has been asked to submit a report in two months. The government, on Thursday, issued two separate notifications on the formation of these committees.
