CHENNAI: Frontline leaders of trade unions in the banking sector on Sunday sought measures to strengthen cooperative banking.

They urged political parties to refrain from influencing the recovery process as it hampered recycling of funds.

At the third conference of the Tamil Nadu State Apex Co-op Bank Officers' Union here, general secretary R.J. Sridharan said the health of the cooperative banks was not rosy. He urged officers and employees of the union to fight the political overtones in the administration and take the bank into the commercial mainstream.

P.Balakrishnan, president, said cooperative banks were at the receiving end in the financial sector with their resources being used for political gains. Frequent rescheduling of farm credit had led "practically no recycling of funds in any of the cooperative banks all over the State."

He said: "We are not against [credit] schemes for farmers, but political influence [in the recovery process] should be avoided."

The conference, followed by the union's general body, urged the Centre and the State Governments to work in unison to provide the "much-talked" about recapitalisation of all agricultural banks. They should do so by taking mutual responsibility for achieving the memorandum of understanding of the State Governments with the Reserve Bank of India on structural and legal reforms.

C.H.Venkatachalam, general secretary, All-India Bank Employees Association, underscored the need for the public sector and cooperative banks to widen their operations and meet the challenge posed by proposed privatisation and outsourcing of their work. Hailing the unity of the officers and employees of the bank, he urged them to broaden their perspective and rope in the public in their struggle.

N.Sampath, president, Tamil Nadu Bank Employees Federation, said it was difficult for cooperative banks to stay afloat without recovery and in the backdrop of reduction in the interest rate on the loans.

An alternative

Speaking on "Globalisation and its impact on the Indian economy," Victor Louis Anthuvan of the Loyola Institute of Business Administration said the cooperative movement was an alternative to globalisation and it promised to eradicate poverty.

The general body passed resolutions, including one urging the management to fill the vacancies in the subordinate staff and assistants' cadre. Welcoming the Centre's decision to provide farm credit at 7 per cent as ultimate rate for the borrowers, another resolution said the State Government must provide the interest subsidy of three per cent.

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