Minister for Cooperation C. N. Balakrishnan inaugurated the distribution of dividend to members of the Kozhikode District Co-operative Bank in Kozhikode on Saturday.
The distribution of dividend for year 2011-12 and 2012-13 also marked the 97th year of service of the bank in the district. A sum of Rs 2.49 crore was paid as dividend to 509 affiliated member cooperatives
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Balakrishnan said that the profits accrued by the cooperative sector through banking service should be utilized for the benefit of society.
Most of the cooperative banks had flourished and made enormous profits. However, their aim should not be limited to increasing deposits.
A vast majority of the people in the country lived in utter poverty. The objective of the cooperative sector should be to serve the needy and the downtrodden, the Minister said.
Mr. Balakrishnan also said that the cooperative sector needed to imbibe financial discipline.
He also said that the State government had allocated Rs 65 crore for the construction a 14-storey headquarters for the cooperative sector.
Mayor A.K. Premajam presented awards to various cooperative banks for their performance during 2012-13. She also gave away the awards to children for their feats in different fields including art, education and culture.
Manayathu Chandran, president, Kozhikode District Cooperative Bank, said that the bank had obtained approval for the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) for customers. The bank had successfully implemented core banking and it had worked out modalities for getting real-Time Gross Settlement system, National Electronic Funds Transfer and Cheque Truncation System facilities.
Uralungal Labour Contractors Co-operative Society president Paleri Rameshan received a special award for its best performance. I. Mooza, vice-president, Kozhikode District Cooperative Bank and C. Abdul Mujeeb, general manager, were present at the function.
Ten cooperatives have been given a dividend above Rs 5.5 lakh.
It was also for the first time the bank gave 15 per cent dividend to the member cooperatives for two consecutive fiscal years.
The bank posted a profit of Rs 6.32 crore in 2010-11 and Rs 7.12 crore in 2011-12.
Dividend was paid in cash this time instead of equity shares as was done previously.
