‘No plans yet to expand Kerala Bank beyond state’

Thiruvananthapuram: The area of operation of Kerala Bank can be extended to outside the state for which the government can take a decision. However, at present, no such decision has been taken, said cooperative minister Kadakampally Surendran in the assembly.
“It can be decided in future with the permission of the government and the regulators. Necessary provisions are there in the bylaw of the Kerala Bank, which was formed as per the Kerala Cooperative Societies Act of 1969,” said the minister.
The minister said since the district cooperative banks have been merged with the Kerala Bank, necessary instructions have been given not to collect funds from pravasis. “No new pravasi accounts should be opened, all authorization letters given to receive the pravasi funds should be surrendered, and within six months of Kerala Bank formation the existing pravasi accounts should be closed,” said the minister.Based on the inflow and outflow of the cash in each branch, the amount that has to be kept in the vault of each branch will be decided. It has to be ensured that adequate funds for the daily business are available at the branches of Kerala Bank. There is no stipulated directive given for how much funds should be kept in each branch, he added.
The Kerala Bank is expecting to provide an agricultural loan of Rs 5,000 crore in the first three years at 6% interest. The interest rate of non-agricultural loans will also be lessened, he added. The cadre integration (merger of employees) will be completed before March 31 after consultations with various employee organizations. tnn