Citizen Cooperative Bank Limited, Jammu.

Brief  History of the Bank: The Citizens' Cooperative Bank is the first and foremost Urban Cooperative Bank of J&K State which was registered with the Registrar Cooperative Societies J&K Jammu on 4^th of March 1978 and was issued license by the Reserve Bank of India to commence banking business under section 22 of the Banking Regulation Act 1949

All the branches and Extension Counters of the Bank are functional in rental accommodation.

Besides  above offices, the bank also has a separate Stationery section situated at Ist floor Extension Counter Channi Himmat and a Yard/Plot situated at Transport Nagar taken by the bank on lease basis from  Jammu Development Authority where the bank parks bank's vehicles as well as seized vehicles etc. The bank has also  another plot taken on lease basis from Jammu Development Authority situated at Rail Head Complex Jammu for proposed  premises of  bank's Administrative and Central Office.

Functional Organisational Structure: The bank   has been functioning under the control of elected  Board of Directors till  Feb.8^th 2004 which  was removed on the basis of certain serious charges leveled against it in a notice served upon  the said management by the Registrar Cooperative Societies  J&K Jammu .  As such the functions of the said Board  are being performed  by the Board of Administrators  duly appointed by the Registrar thereby appointing  Sh. B.R. Sharma IAS, Divisional Commissioner  Jammu as Administrator of the bank. The Board  performs its functions by conducting routine meetings meant for  smooth functioning of the institution and executes its decisions  through the Managing Director of the Bank appointed  under Clause 12 of the  Bye-laws of the bank duly registered by the Registrar Cooperative Societies J&K Jammu. The Managing Director being Ex-officio member of the Board, besides  functioning as its Secretary also performs the  duties of Chief Executive  as per following:-

1. Examining of the accounts of the bank.
2. Investigating into the  loan applications  received  and submits them  with his recommendations to the Board
3. Calling of  meetings with the consent of the Chairman and execute decisions taken in such meetings.
4. Receiving and disbursing money on behalf of the bank under orders of the Board.
5. Working and attending  duties and powers of the bank as are entrusted upon him by the Board.
6. Conducting correspondence  and exercising control over  Managers and others establishments  in respect of the Administration of the bank, bank's money as well as  other works of the bank.

Branches: The  Branches are  controlled by the Managers through their staff comprising of Additional Managers if  needed  as per quantum of work  as well as through  Managers Scale-I.  The  clerical staff functioning  on various Counters of the branch work under the control of Managers/Manager Scale-I. However the overall affairs of the branch are controlled by the territorial Manager of the branch who exercises managerial powers  for allotment of  assignments  to the staff as per the requirement for smooth functioning of the branch. The Branch Managers are under the  direct control of Managing Director of the Bank and execute all such directions/decisions which are assigned  and communicated  to them  by the  Managing Director as per  decision of the Board.

Extension Counters: The Extension Counters  are  controlled by their parent branches  through Manager Scale-I  as Incharge of  the Extension Counters. The performance of results  of Extension Counters are  attributable  to the overall results of the branch. The has its  four Extension Counters namely  Extension Counter Talab Tillo, Extension Counter Channi Himmat, Extension Counter Janipur and Extension Counter Sheikh Nagar working under the control of their parent branches namely Vinayak Bazar, Transport Nagar, New Plots and Ware House respectively. The Counters like branches are also equipped  with  clerical staff  and  subordinate staff  as per quantum of work.

Sections/Cells: Various sections/cells  constituted  for specific purposes  are handled by the  Officers of the rank of  Chief Managers/ Managers Scale-III / Manager Scale-I  as per working requirements as heads of the concerned sections/cells  and are also provided  clerical and subordinate staff depending upon the  requirement as per quantum of work.

Operational Figures:

Details of Electoral College including number members to be elected in Board of Management: Bye-laws of the bank  prescribe  that  Board  comprises of nine members elected  in accordance to the provision of  Jammu & Kashmir Cooperative Societies Act and rules made thereunder excluding  the  strength of Govt. nominees nominated by the Govt. under the provisions of the Act and rules made thereunder. The term of the Board is three years  under the Act, Rules and Bye-laws of the bank.

Presently,  the Board of Administrator appointed by the Registrar Cooperative Societies through the Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir  is discharging the functions and duties of the Board after suppression of the earlier elected Board who had been removed on the grounds of serious charges and had also out lived  its  legitimate  term  prescribed under law.  At present,  the  Administrator of the Bank appointed by the Registrar Cooperative Societies Sh. B.R. Sharma IAS, Divisional Commissioner Jammu has been managing the affairs of the bank  with  three other members appointed by the Registrar to aid and assist the  Administrator.

These members include  Sh. Parvez  Ahmed Malik KAS Director Estates Department J&K Govt, Mr. M.A. Siddiqi,  KAS Joint Registrar (Banking & Finance) and Sh. Chander Singh Slathia.

Development Action Plan (DAP)Strategies thereof: In view of  political crises, acts of militancy  and insurgency  the  entire State of J&K  suffered major set backs relating to its economy including  all other issues concerning the development of the State.  The trouble torn State not only  forced its inhabitants with  major  exodus from  Villages to Towns, Towns to Cities  and then  Cities to  other States but also  forced a major section of  people dealing in commercial activities to change, migrate or  stop their business activities in the State. Be it as it may be,  the net result was that  all banking activities of the banks operating in the State  quite  like the people of  the State have to face  very adverse effects of crises. No doubt,  the bank made good progress in achievement of its deposits  but on the contrary the investments of the bank  extended to its member  suffered badly in view of the consistent stalemate caused  by the affects of militancy. With the result,  the bank  reached in a critical position  and was lastly declared weak  by the Reserve Bank of India in the year 1996.  

As a matter  of  indispensable need,   the bank  to cope with  the sufferings has been preparing  and implementing  Development Action Plan Strategies from time to time  and accordingly  for the financial year 2004-05, the bank again prepared its Action Plan  for rehabilitation of the bank  and placed before the Board for deliberations and  approval. The said Plan  stands approved on 23.9.2004  and also  stands submitted to the Reserve Bank of India with a copy  endorsed  in favour of the Registrar Cooperative Societies  J&K Jammu  for information . On taking  all relevant  austerity  measures,  the bank  has also been able to curtail  all avoidable expenditures.

As per desired efforts  put in for the purpose, the CRAR position  has been improved and shooting NPAs  have not only been  arrested but also  brought to reducing trend in exercise of  strict control by the  present Board of Administrator as is  visible in record from the  available figures  of the bank as on 31.12.2004.

Although  the  bank has suffered  losses  in the past  but  all accumulated losses have been set off  by the bank out of the consistent  profits  generated by the bank in the last three years. The comparative position of the bank  is  as under:

The failure of  a number of Cooperative Banks in the other States of the country for the reasons  being genuine or  otherwise  and display of such  information, reports  on various news channels  of Audio and Visual Media not only  created a chaos about the creditability of Cooperative Banks in the Country but also have shaken the confidence of the  public in general.  The serious consequences of  consistent failures and  closure of  Cooperative Banks  in the Country have brought  havoc for the survival of  Cooperative Banks. The direct result  is that  the common man hesitates  to keep his deposits  with the  Cooperative Banks  terming these banks as unsafe to deal  with and keep   their savings with them. The net result is that  the deposits  which are the  life blood  for any Bank have been considerably reduced  thereby landing the Cooperative Banks of the Country into  serious crises.

As per  efforts of the  present management,  the bank  has been trying hard to provide efficient and effective services  to the client of the bank so that its survival is somehow managed and it may be  brought to  its required  growth.

RBI classification: As per classification of  the bank,  our bank which continues to be in Weak Status for about a decade has now  been  categorized by the Reserve Bank of India in Grade -II  Category as per last Inspection report of  Reserve Bank of India on the basis of progress made by the bank so far.

Audit Classification: Audit of the bank is  conducted  by the  Registrar Cooperative Societies  through its  Audit Department controlled by  the Joint Registrar Cooperative Societies (Audit) Jammu.  As per previous audit classification,  our bank has been classified in "B" Category.

Modernization Programmes/Human Resource Development Programmes: In view of stiff competition  in the line of  Banking Industry,  our bank has been taking  due care to ensure all basic and infrastructural requirements not only for the staff of the bank but also for its esteemed clients  so that  unjust complexes in the minds of  common masses may not have any scope to take place.  All the branches of  our bank have been renovated and Air-conditioned as well. 

In order to  equip the staff  with  requisite skill to handle  all routine activities concerning the banking business,  the bank has arranged experts for some training programmes  by engaging  faculty members  from various  fields as per  the  needs of present changing scenario. Apart from this, our bank is also deputing  the staff of the bank  to attend Training Programmes conducted by the NAFCUB, RBI and  also JCC Bank Ltd Jammu.

In order  to encourage the staff of the bank to acquire knowledge  and  skill in the field of banking  to undergo  professional examinations such as  JAIIB,  CAIIB, MBA(Banking & Finance)  and other diploma courses, our bank is  extending  facility of additional increments/reimbursement  of  fee etc. to the  staff as per the recent decision taken by the present  Board of Administrators appointed by the Registrar Cooperative Societies J&K Jammu.

Computerisation: Keeping in view the ongoing needs of the present day clients of the bank as well as  the prevailing competition  to extend more effective and efficient services  to the clients,  the bank  while complying to the direction of apex institution of the country,  the Reserve Bank of India has already initiated the process of Computerization of the bank. Presently, four branches of the bank stands computerized  and process to computerize rest of  the  branches bank and its other offices is in  offing.  The four of its branches computerized by the bank are Moti Bazar, Vinayak Bazar, Kanak Mandi and New Plots.

Client/Member friendly schemes recently devised: In the wake of  changing needs of the present day clients  of the bank, different  schemes  are devised not only to ensure  convenience-oriented facilities for the  clients of the bank  but also  to ensure that such devised schemes  may have  fruitful results  for committed growth of the bank  thereby ensuring its  necessary role  for  contribution towards prosperity  and growth  of the Cooperative Movement in our State.  Senior Citizens'  keeping their term deposits  with the bank are also  granted  ½% to 1%  more interest  as per scheme devised from time to time.  On certain occasions,  the bank also extends special incentive for a stipulated period  to the Clients in general.  On Silver  Jubilee of the bank,  the Clients in general were extended 1%  more interest than generally applicable on deposits  to such clients  who  kept their deposits  with the bank  as per the scheme.

Vision 2005-2010: It is an admitted fact  the role of Cooperatives  in our country is of great significance for the reason that  Cooperatives make  indispensable contribution  for  committed growth of our economy in respect of its all segments which stands established  from the information made available in these presents.  The  cooperatives in our country  could have  added much more  than the attained and  described so far.  The basic  factor behind this remains  that when the Cooperatives  in our country  were at its initial stage, at that time,  the rate of illiteracy was very higher.  But now the scenario  has changed. More and more people have become educated.  Their needs have changed. They now have a variety to choose from and not dependent on any single institution and  requirements of the people were also  small and cope even with lack of many facilities served the public problems well. Undoubtedly, the Cooperative Movement is a movement of the people, for the people, and by the people but  absence  of clear vision can not make it  grow  as it is expected to grow  as per principles of cooperatives.

If  we look back,   we will certainly observe that cooperatives  made  an enormous growth  as per post independence  scenario.  This became possible  only  with the integration  of our Country which was earlier divided into  small princely States.  Further   the enactment of  laws  in the country  after  its  being  becoming into a  Sovereign  Republic  with the  coming into force of  the Constitution of India made many impossible things  into possible  and planned growth of cooperatives in the country was  one  of such  possibilities.  The growth and development of the country  became  subject matter  and role of a common man  which was  earlier  handled by the  Monarchs alone. 

Although cooperatives made  an enormous  growth  in various segments  of economy  but some segments of the cooperatives  could not grow as much  as they were  meant to grow  on account of   a number of reasons  responsible as  big hurdles.   Amongst these reasons,  there was  absence of  effective laws,  accountability aspects, technical aspects and even political as well as social aspects.  Taking example  of our own state,  the Cooperative Movement apart from all other reasons also  fell pray of  militancy and insurgency in the State.  The ill effects  of the same  are  well expressed above.   In order to save the dying movement of  cooperatives   more particularly   to financial institutions,  it has become necessary  that  cooperative banks  be extended  a direct helping hand  by the Govt.  for their survival because these are not only the Cooperative banks  which have become weak but the  entire movement in the State which has become weak.  Every cooperator shall appreciate that  only cooperative banks  are the source of easy financing  to common masses not only as individuals but as  collective groups  or in the shape of  Societies.  The overall growth of the entire cooperative movement  depends   more particularly  upon the health of  cooperative institutions  as  finance is one of the most important  factor for  any commercial/ cooperative /economic activity.  Healthy financial institutions surely lead to healthy growth of economy whether it concerns a particular State or  the entire country comprising of  number of States. 

In case  the State Govt. or  Govt. of India    take  necessary steps  to strengthen the  health of  cooperative banks  by ensuring  financial and non-financial support,  the overall economy  of  the country  as a whole  shall  certainly achieve  all that which  the planning commissions  of various States  and the Planning Commission of our India prepares in their  respective paper plans.  The fact can not be denied that the Govt. is run by the levies and taxes paid by the common masses.  The healthier the economy is grown by the people the healthier will be the country through its healthier Govt. It is need of the  hour  that Govt.  must  actively think to  provide financial support  by subscribing its capital  in cooperative banks like other nationalized banks and operating  through  cooperative banks  to extend a signal that nothing is bad with the cooperative banks  and their creditability.   The aspect of non-financial support  to the cooperative banks is equally important  and under non-financial aspects,  the Govt. must extend  technical support  on respective management Boards of these banks as well as by utilizing  the services of  Govt. medias so that the confidence of the common masses is restored  towards cooperative banks  for  committed growth of  economy of the country which is already getting a major support from the cooperative sector. In the event,  the health of the  cooperative is  properly improved  the revenues of the  State shall  multiply  manifolds to make our State a self-dependent State by making  indigenous production from the  resources  lying hidden  in our State and yet to be exploited  and capitalized.