Co-operative banks need a new 'vision document'; sector has not flourished in last 15 years, says RBI director

Pune: The patron of Sahakar Bharati and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Director Satish Marathe said on Monday co-operative banks in India need a new “vision document”. He said it is unfortunate that in the last 15 years, not a single urban cooperative bank came up in the country. At the same time, small finance banks, payment banks and other private financial institutions have flourished. “Till 1967, the Centre, as well as state policy, was to give priority to the cooperative sector but in the later years, barring some institutions, the cooperative sector did not flourish. “After the division in the Congress in the late 60s, the perspective to look at the cooperative sector as a developmental movement changed and the cooperative sector became a stepping stone to enter politics,” said Marathe. He was speaking to reporters here. [caption id=“attachment_4399791” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Banking services. Representational image. Reuters[/caption] “There is a need to put the cooperative sector into right and balanced perspective as the existing cooperative policy was formulated 15 years ago and now a review of that policy is needed. Thus, cooperative banks in the country need a new vision document,” he asserted. Marathe said he is engaging with the RBI on the issues related to co-operative banks. Marathe was appointed a part-time director on the RBI board last month along with S Gurumurthy, co-convenor of RSS-affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch. Sahakar Bharati is a non-political and non-government organisation that works for strengthening the co-operative movement in the country.