The Visakhapatnam Cooperative Bank Limited has emerged the largest cooperative urban bank in South India, with its total business crossing Rs.2,700 crore, which includes Rs.1,560 crore deposits and Rs.1,143 crore advances, as on May 31 this year, according to its chairman Manam Anjaneyulu.
Announcing this at a media conference on Friday, he said that the bank has 28 branches in nine districts in the State and seven more would be opened during the present financial year as the approval for the same had already been received from the Reserve Bank of India.
The bank, which was confined to Visakhapatnam district till 2007, has expanded to Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, East and West Godavari, Prakasam, Nellore, Chittoor and Ranga Reddy (Greater Hyderabad) during the last few years.
Mr. Anjaneyulu said that the bank was in the process of introducing core banking to provide better services. The bank was the first in the cooperative sector to provide zero balance facility to its customers.
It was also the first cooperative bank to provide 6.5 per cent interest on daily balance on savings accounts.
Pratibha Puraskaram
The bank has invited applications from the children of shareholders, who have excelled in studies during the last academic year, for the ‘Pratibha Puraskaram’ award.
The last date for submitting applications is June 30 and shareholders can collect the applications from the nearest branch.
The inability of banks, both nationalised as well as private, to serve the urban slum populace and petty businesses has driven them into the hands of financiers, he noted, seeing this as an opportunity for the cooperative bank.
