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The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and the Bankers Institute of Rural Development (BIRD), Lucknow, are organizing a two-day national conference on "Best Practices in Rural Cooperative Banks" on 16 and 17th October 2023. This conference is being attended by senior officials from NABARD, BIRD, and the Government of Uttar Pradesh, as well as representatives from 14 state cooperative banks, 61 district central cooperative banks, and over 200 selected primary agriculture credit societies.

In his inaugural address, Shri Shaji K. V., Chairman of NABARD, highlighted the current status of rural cooperative banks in the context of the "Sahkaar se Samridhi” campaign launched by the Government of India. He pointed out that the share of cooperative banks in the ground level credit flow to agricultural sector has decreased to 11%, which is a matter of great concern. In addition to this, he emphasized the importance of technological advancements, infrastructure development, branding, governance and building trust with rural customers in the growth of cooperative banks. He encouraged all present cooperative bank officials to actively work towards improvement in these areas.

In his special address, Shri B.L. Meena, Principal Secretary, Cooperation, GoUP, highlighted the efforts being made by the government of Uttar Pradesh in this direction and the business potential available in the cooperative sector. 

The two-day national conference includes technical sessions on "Capacity Building in Rural Cooperative Banks," "Technological Infusion," "Business Diversification in Rural Cooperative Banks," and "Human Resource Management." Technical sessions will involve discussions with NABARD, various state cooperative banks, and district central cooperative banks, along with secretaries of primary agricultural credit societies from Kerala, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana. Plans for further action will be formulated based on these discussions.

On this occasion, a guidance document titled "Internal Audit Manual for Rural Cooperative Banks" prepared by the Center for Professional Excellence (C-PEC), BIRD was released.

Besides Shri Nirupam Mehrotra, Director, BIRD, Lko, Shri  J.S. Upadhyay, Chief General Manager, Mr. S. Manikumar, Chief General Manager, Shri  S.K. Nanda, Chief General Manager,  Shri Vivek Sinha, Chief General Manager, NABARD Head office Mumbai were also present in the conference.

The deliberations and discussions with the different stakeholders shall enable NABARD and BIRD to formulate a future action plan to lead rural cooperative banks towards excellence. 

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