State government to challenge in SC RBI's stand on cooperative banks: Kerala minister VN Vasavan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government will approach the Supreme Court against the Reserve Bank of India's stand on cooperative banks, Cooperation Minister VN Vasavan has said. The RBI has become a tool at the hands of the Central Government, he told reporters in New Delhi.

He said that the RBI's public notice on cooperative banks was creating misunderstanding among people. Banking is just one of the activities of service cooperative banks. They are making several interventions in the society like running of subsidised medical stores and distribution of fertilisers.

The RBI's warning that it has not assigned such cooperative societies for banking activities is misleading. Cooperation is a state subject and the central government is implementing its agenda through the apex bank, he said. He said cooperative organisations in the state had won international attention. 

"The World Cooperative Monitor has ranked the Kozhikode-based ULCCS as the second biggest cooperative in the world in terms of industrial and consumer sectors for 2021. Also, Ashtamudi Hospital in Kollam has won the implementation of best practises competition award instituted by the Centre for the implementation of the Ayushman Bharat Yojana," he said.