Co-operative bank, in a nutshell, provides
financial assistance to the people with small means to protect them from the
debt trap of the moneylenders. It is a part of vast and powerful structure of
co-operative institutions which are engaged in tasks of production, processing,
marketing, distribution, servicing and banking in India. A co-operative bank is
a financial entity which belongs to its members, who are at the same time the
owners and the customers of their bank.
HISTORY
The bank was formed in 1872
as the Loan and Deposit Department of the Co-operative Wholesale Society, becoming the CWS Bank
four years later. However, the bank did not become a registered company until 1971. In 1975, the
bank became the first new member of the Committee of London Clearing Banks for
40 years and thus able to issue its own cheques
ROLE OF CO-OPERATIVE BANKING IN INDIA:
Co-operative Banks are much more important in
India than anywhere else in the world. The distinctive character of this bank
is service at a lower cost and service without exploitation. It has gained its
importance by the role assigned to them, the expectations they are supposed to
fulfill, their number, and the number of offices they operate. Co-operative
banks role in rural financing continues to be important day by day, and their
business in the urban areas also has increased phenomenally in recent years mainly
due to the sharp increase in the number of primary co-operative banks.
