Co-Operation department to set 2,631 Customer Service Points

Kolkata: The state Co-Operation department will set up 2,631 Customer Service Points (CSP), particularly in areas lacking branches of nationalised banks to render services to the rural population.

"Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has instructed us to take bank services to the areas which lack nationalised and private bank branches. We have set a target of coming up with CSPs in 2,631 Gram Panchayat (GP) areas across the state. Around 250 such CSPs have already come up," state Co-Operation minister Arup Roy said.

Sources in the department said the CSPs are being set up in the offices of the co-operative societies and will have all the facilities of a banking service branch. There will be Rs an investment of 15 lakh for each unit and the total cost of the project has been earmarked at Rs 300 crore. The employees of the co-operative societies will be trained for rendering services to the users.

It may be mentioned that there are around 710 villages in the state which do not have banks. The state Co-Operation department has already set up 50 banks to cater to these villages and is gradually setting up more and more branches.

The state government is also focusing upon recovering NPAs in the co-operative banks. "We are now offering loan at a rate of 2 percent to the farmers bringing it down from 4 percent. The state government is offering subsidies to the banks in this regard so that they can offer loan at a low percentage," an official said. The minister mentioned his department has set a target of providing farmer's loan to the tune of Rs 7,000 crore in the 2018-19 fiscal up from Rs 5200 crore that was allocated in 2017-18. "The loan for Self-Help Groups has been set at Rs 1,200 crore in 2018-19 financial year up from Rs 1,000 crore in the last fiscal," Roy said.

The department will organise Co-Operative fair from November 19 to 22 at Netaji Indoor Stadium. State Finance and Industry minister Amit Mitra will inaugurate the fair.