Nagaland’s own NStCB scripts success story; rarity among state’s undertakings

50 years of transforming rural masses and have-nots
Henlly Phom
Dimapur, Nov. 9 (EMN): The Nagaland State Cooperative Bank Limited (NStCB) which was conceived with the twin objectives of putting in place a banking system that encompasses the cooperative principles and also a financial system that is friendly to the customs and traditions of the people of Nagaland is on the point of celebrating its 50 successful years of building successful relationship, on November 10.
NStCB started with a deposit of Rs. 54,000 on June 30, 1967 with seven staffs and now the bank is a proud banking sector with 241 staffs across the state. The financial institution’s accomplishment is the Credit Deposit of 63.73 which was achieved during the quarter 2 that ended on Sep. 30, 2017 making the bank the highest compared to other banks in the state, maintained NStCB Managing Director (MD) Imtilemba Longkumer.
The foundation of NStCB as an apex credit cooperative society was laid on October 25, 1966 by the then Minister for Cooperation Akum Imlong and was formally inaugurated on April 21, 1967 with its registered office at Dimapur by the then Minister of Finance Hokishe Sema.
The NStCB, since its inception had catered to the needs of the rural masses, especially the have-nots affirmed the bank’s MD and that the bank has given outmost importance for elevating the agrarian economy of the state.
The bank in commemoration of its 50 years has adopted 11 Golden Villages-one each village from the 11 districts of the state. The MD detailed that the assessment for the 11 golden villages which they labelled as the best cooperative society was decided on recovery performance, loan and deposits.
In a noteworthy development the bank has launched two deposit schemes- ‘Saving premium’ and ‘Cooperative Gold fixed deposit’, and also General Credit Card (GCC) financial assistance to individuals to ensure greater flow of entrepreneurial credit to individuals, particularly of small means like local micro vendors, small shops and tiny enterprises to name a few in the urban and semi urban areas, said Longkumer.
The bank had embarked on accomplishing the mission of financial inclusion since its inception and it was with this objective, the bank had extended its network of branches throughout the length and breadth of the state. At a time when most commercial banks had their presence in Dimapur, the commercial hub of the state, it could not venture out to the then inaccessible areas that were also unviable from the business point of view.
With a view to mitigate the hardship of the people of the state in the absence of viable banking arrangements in those days, other than the presence of State Bank of India, the NStCB stood up to the task of filling the vacuum and in the first 25 years established a network of 21 branches and made its presence felt in all the districts of Nagaland through a large network of affiliated Primary Agricultural Credit Society (PACS) having its existence in every village of Nagaland.
In the age of information technology, the banking systems have regenerated and have challenged its total functioning. Considering the huge shift that emerged in the banking sector, the bank has also been in the race for operation of latest technology solutions. Under stiff technological competition the bank stepped in into Core Banking Solution from March 31, 2014, expounded Longkumer.
The bank is now equipped with latest technologies like ATM, Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), National electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT), Point of Sale (PoS) and e-commerce to name a few is bracing up to acquire latest technologies to meet the needs of its clients. On the absence of internet banking which the bank is yet to provide the service, the General Manager (Accounts/MIS) AK Deb said a bank has to reach a certain stipulation and parameter for internet banking which NStCB is yet to achieve.
Taking pride in the bank’s accomplishment in the last 50 years, Longkumer noted “with the transformation of the bank from conventional banking to technology driven banking, the bank envisions emerging as a strong vibrant bank through synchronisation of human, financial and technological resources”.
The state government and the board of directors of the bank have taken up more strategic steps to deal with every aspect of the working of the bank for positive results for which agendas are being taken up regularly in every board meeting and its sub-committees and strict action is being initiated accordingly, noted the MD.
The business plan target and achievement of the bank under Developmental Action Plans (DAP) for the financial year 2016-17 with reference to achievement as on March 31, 2017, the bank has earned an operating profit of Rs. 831.75 lac. during the year 2016-17 which is the highest ever profit in the history of the bank so far, maintained Longkumer.
“A robust DAP for 2017-18 has been planned projecting a profit of Rs. 1600 lac. as on March 31, 2018, a growth of 91.12% over 2016-17. The gross income of Rs 7756 lac. after providing for total expenditure of Rs 6156 lac. will be netting an income of Rs. 1600 lac. on March 31, 2018” affirmed .
The bank today is compliant and vibrant and is serving the people especially the downtrodden through micro finance and also the financing of cooperative societies; SHGs; JLGs; farmers club; personal loans to government employees; and church based projects to name a few.