Bengal is a leader when it came to cooperative movement in the country, said the State Finance Minister, Dr Amit Mitra at the joint inauguration of the Samabay Mela and the centenary celebrations of the State cooperative banks on November 19.
He said Nadia district has excelled in this field and has won recognition from the Union Government. He also highlighted the stellar growth achieved under the Trinamool Congress Government in terms of disbursals to cooperatives and self-help groups (SHG).
Dr Mitra said the credit deposit ratio of the West Bengal State Cooperative Agriculture & Rural Development Bank was 81.16 per cent, which was extremely good.
Cooperative banks play a crucial role in agriculture and rural development. The banks extended a total crop loan of Rs 3,300 crore, a massive rise from the Rs 1,388 crore extended during financial year 2010-11. In the same period, loans to SHGs have increased from Rs 129 crore to Rs 612 crore and paddy procurement has jumped from 1.97 lakh metric tonnes (MT) to 5.08 lakh MT.
The Cooperation Department Minister said the government has taken initiatives to expand cooperative banks to 710 more gram panchayats. Fifty of these were inaugurated on that day.
Source: Millennium Post