Preethi Dodawad has been elected president of the Rani Channamma Women’s Cooperative Bank in Belagavi, while Roopa Munavalli the vice-president.
Returning officer Kalavati Managuli announced the results of the elections where the office-bearers were elected unopposed recently.
The former bank president Asha Prabhakar Kore and the former vice-president Sudha Koujalagi handed over charge to the new office-bearers.
The other office-bearers of the bank include directors Asha Prabhakar Kore, Suvarnalatha Bansode, Rajeshwari Kavatagimath, Arundhati Patted, Deepa Munavalli, Keerthi Metagudd, Seema Bagewadi, Girija Koujalagi and Pushpa Mamadapur.
Professional directors include chartered accountant Jyoti Mathad and advocate Beena Achar.
KLE Society chairman Prabhakar Kore has urged women to come out of the kitchen and embrace entrepreneurship and social leadership.
The former MLC Mahantesh Kavatagimath has asked the new team to face all challenges in the cooperative sector and help the bank grow exponentially into an institution of national importance.
Rajeshwarai Kavatagimath said that the bank has worked to empower women in the last 27 years. She thanked the founding-president Asha Prabhakar Kore for her services.
“Under her leadership, the bank has won the best women’s cooperative bank award at the State level. It also led to Ms. Kore winning Sahakara Rathna Award,” she said.
Arundhati Patted said that the bank, with RBI licence, which started with one branch in 1996, has eight branches now.
The first bank for women in the district has inspired several other institutions, she said.
It now has 5,733 members, with ₹373 crore deposits and ₹215 crore in loans. It has earned a profit of ₹6.5 crore. The bank has implemented facilities such as e-banking, core banking, RTGS/NEFT, among others. It has set up automated teller machines, she said.