The Odisha State Cooperative Bank (OSCB) is all set to record an impressive turnover of Rs10,000 crore during the fiscal 2012-13. The turnover in 2011-12 was Rs8,129 crore.
The State’s premier cooperative bank, which is going to complete 65 years of its existence, is working out ways and means for a higher growth in all the performance parameters, said a senior officer of the bank.
Commissioner-cum-secretary of the department of cooperation Bishnupada Sethi is now at the helm of affairs of the OSCB after the Government took over its reins.
During the 2012-13 fiscal, the OSCB has achieved a 23-per cent growth in terms of loans and advances while the aggregate deposits grew by 18 per cent, revealed a report prepared by its Managing Director Tushar Kanta Panda.
The bank’s investment has grown at 17 per cent level of Rs3,889 crore and the per-employee business has reached an all-time high of Rs36.03 crore, which is perhaps the highest in the banking industry in the country.
Since 1999-2000, the OSCB’s financial progress has scaled up from only Rs1,000 to the Rs10,000 crore-mark. It is aiming to improve its agricultural credit portfolio, targeting to disburse Rs6,000 crore during 2013-14, said sources.
As far as the Kisan Credit Cards (KCCs) for farmers are concerned, the OSCB has provided Rs41.26 lakh, which is around 77 per cent of the total KCCs issued by all banks in the State. Notwithstanding a continuous decline in the market share of deposits mobilised in the State, it remained at about 3.26 per cent as on March 31, 2012.
The short-term cooperative credit structure could provide 66 per cent of the crop loans and 56 per cent of the total agricultural credit disbursed. Though the OSCB’s turnover has touched Rs10,000 crore, its has earned low profit because the bank is providing funds to affiliated District Cooperative Banks and Primary Agriculture Cooperative Societies to advance crop loans at five per cent of interest. However, the State Government continues its policy of compensating the losses incurred by the bank.