Shocking: More than Rs 9,000 crore deposited across cooperative banks of the country after demonetization

District central cooperative banks in India have been a bad shape since quite some decades. However, thanks to Modi’s demonetization, deposits totalling over Rs 9,000 crore were made in select district central cooperative banks (DCCBs) across 17 states between November 10 and 15.

Suffering from losses since quite some time, DCCBs are infamous for accumulated losses and large non-performing assets.

"For many years, DCCBs have been hunting grounds for politicians who open accounts in the name of farmers and use them for money laundering,'' former NABARD managing director Dr K G Karmakar told The Economic Times.

Officials have particularly expressed surprise about the deposits of over Rs 1,800 crore in Kerala, where agriculture is on the brink of collapse.

"The DCCBs in Kerala mostly serve marginal farmers and small businesses. It is worth investigating how these loan-dependent depositors deposited Rs 1,810 crore in a matter of five days," a top bureaucrat told TOI.

Ditto in Punjab, whose 20-plus DCCBs recorded deposits of Rs 1,268 crore. Maharashtra, which has seen a steady decline in the cooperative movement and politicisation of district-level banks, ranked third highest, with deposits of Rs 1,128 crore between November 10 and 14.

"Farmers in Maharashtra are consuming pesticide as they are unable to repay loan sharks... The deposits reveal how the institution of the DCCB has once again been exploited by political overlords," a top official from the state agriculture department told the newspaper.

(image: BCCL)