THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The maiden general body meeting of the Kerala State Cooperative Bank on Monday approved its merger with 13 district cooperative banks in the state. The meeting also approved the new brand name ‘Kerala Bank’ and its logo, in addition to the vision document and business plan for the next three years.
It is learnt that the proposed amendments to the bylaw were approved unanimously. The bank expects a three-fold increase in the present business in the next three years. Of the 1,685 members of the Kerala Bank, a total of 987 representatives attended the meeting. Around 100 service cooperative bank office-bearers who owe allegiance to the UDF were also in attendance, despite the Front having asked them to boycott the meeting. The UDF leaders who attended the meeting included VJ Poulose, former Ernakulam DCC president and former district cooperative bank president; N K Abdul Rahman, president of Karassery Service Cooperative Bank; TU Udayan, president of Edamuttam Service Cooperative Bank; Siddique, president of Ariyoor Service Cooperative Bank and Kallingal Padmanabhan, president of Taliparamba Service Cooperative Bank.
The decisions made at the general body meeting will be communicated to the Reserve Bank of India.
‘Kerala Bank sufficient to meet financial needs of entire state ’Kerala Bank is an alternative for the commercial banks, which focus on profit alone, and it is sufficient enough to meet the banking requirements of the whole state, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said. He was speaking after releasing the logo of the new bank here on Monday. Kerala Bank will not take it long to become the top banker in the state, said Pinarayi. At present, Kerala Bank is the second-largest bank in the state. The SBI, with 1,216 branches and deposits worth Rs 1,53,000 crore, is the largest. Kerala Bank now has 825 branches and 65,000 crore deposit. In addition to these, there are 1,625 primary agricultural credit cooperative societies and 60 urban banks.
“The Kerala Bank network can protect the interests of the state. Hence, the target of threefold increase in the present Rs 1 crore business is not overambitious. The bank will increase lending agricultural loans in phases,” he said. The chief minister refuted allegations that the Kerala Bank would destroy the cooperative nature of the participant banks.
“Instead, cooperative nature will be strengthened. Because the bank will comply with cooperative laws and rules strictly. With financial discipline the bank can achieve more heights in a short period,” he said.