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Kathmandu Saturday February 02, 2002 Magh 20, 2058.
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NCB to be established by April first week
By Maina Dhital
KATHMANDU, Feb 1 Necessary preparations are being made to
operate the proposed National Cooperative Bank (NCB) through by-laws within the first week
of April.
According to Janardan Acharya, Director General of
Cooperatives Association and the Secretary of the proposed bank, endeavours are being made
to operate the bank by the anniversary of the Association that falls on first week of
April.
The bank that is aimed at promoting the co-operative
societies under the single umbrella has a paid up capital of Rs 160 million. Till date 400
co-operatives have shown their commitments to make an investment of around Rs 80 million
in the upcoming bank. Of the interested investors, 60 per cent are the cooperatives from
outside the valley.
The bank has an authorised capital of Rs 640 million, which
has been divided into 640,000 ordinary shares with a face value of Rs 1000 each.
Interested investors have to purchase at least 10 units of shares. Those who buy at least
10 shares by February 19 have to deposit the whole amount while those who buy more than
ten units of shares within the period can submit 70 per cent of the amount.
The establishment of the bank was delayed by over one and a
half years due to lack of clear policy to run such bank. Previously, it was supposed to be
run under the Cooperatives Act, but as the Act was not enacted over the time.
Following the confusion regarding the operation of the
proposed bank, advice was taken from specialists from the Netherlands, which is known to
have a model of co-operative bank, says Acharya.
The preliminary meeting of investors to be held on March 9 is
expected to pass the by-laws to run the bank and constitute an ad hoc committee. The bank
is being established under the Cooperatives Act 2048 (1991), with a view to mobilise the
resources of the cooperatives.
According to Acharya the bill on the by-laws is expected to
be tabled in the parliament in the upcoming session.
A similar bank established in 1963 was merged with the
Agricultural Development Bank after four years, due to its ineffective operation. Over six
thousand cooperatives are in operation throughout the country currently.
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