NRB, DoC to keep tabs on big cooperatives online

KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 26: With more cooperatives being declared problematic due to financial debacle, the  Department of Cooperatives (DoC) and Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) have collaborated to inspect especially large-scale cooperatives online.

According to media reports, there are three monitoring teams formed under the coordination of the Department’s Deputy-Registrar, Tola Raj Upadhyaya,  for the very purpose. These groups are being assisted by Deputy Director of the NRB, Ramesh Chaulagain along with two other bank officials: Ramesh Poudel and Ram Krishna Rai.

In the first phase, the teams will be keeping tabs on the operations of Gorkha Savings and Credit Cooperative, Ideal Yamuna Savings and Credit Cooperative, Kantipur Savings and Credit Cooperative, Shuva Ratna Savings and Credit Cooperative, Gautam Shree Multipurpose Cooperative, Lali Gurans Multipurpose Cooperative, Hamro Multipurpose Cooperative and Nepal Multipurpose Central Cooperative Union.

As per the the Cooperatives Act 2017, the cooperatives having a capital base of over Rs 500 million are to be regulated by the NRB.  However, the concerned regulators like the central bank and DoC have been facing criricism for their failure in this regad.   Accoridng to experts, it is because of such failure that an increasing bumber of cooperatives  are going bankrupt, putting the hard-earned money of common depositors of such instututions ar risk.