THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The first elected director board of the Kerala Bank assumed office on Friday. Gopi Kottamurikkal, ex-MLA who was elected the representative of urban banks, is the president and M K Kannan is the vice-president. At the function, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the bank is poised to become the largest bank in the state. “This is an opportunity for the cooperative sector to prove its efficiency. The Kerala Bank will function as a professional organisation under the Reserve Bank of India,” he said.
He urged the director board to intervene in Kerala’s issues. He recalled that the cooperative banking sector had made several contributions to the state like its support to the KSRTC pension payment, social security pension and the Care Home project. He also urged the Malappuram District Cooperative Bank to become part of the Kerala Bank. It should not deny the new bank’s services to the people of that district, he said. “Cooperators in the state are rejoicing at the formation of the Kerala Bank. At present, one district is not part of the bank. Expatriates can send money to the Kerala Bank once the RBI gives its nod. Such facilities should not be denied to the people of that district,” he said.
Other elected members of the board are S Shajahan (Thiruvananthapuram), G Lalu (Kollam), M Sathyapalan (Alappuzha), S Nirmala Devi (Pathanamthitta), K J Philip (Kottayam), K V Sasi (Idukki), Pushpadas (Ernakulam), A Prabhakaran (Palakkad), E Ramesh Babu (Kozhikode), P Gagarin (Wayanad), K J Valsala Kumari (Kannur) and Sabu Abraham (Kasaragod). S Harisankar, former managing director of Punjab and Sind Bank, is the independent director. Government nominees are V Raveendran, retired AGM, RBI, K N Harilal, Planning Board member, P A Ummar, former president of the state cooperative bank, Adv Mani Vithayathil (Law) and Jiju P Alex of the Agricultural University.