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Abstract
The credit cooperatives in Maharashtra have shown slower growth in
their membership and institutional financing. On the other hand, a faster
growth has been observed in outstandings against loan advances. A
lackadaisical attitude of Primary Agriculture Cooperative Credit Societies
(PACS) has been observed towards SC/ST members, particularly in terms
of their coverage, pattern of loan advances to them and recovery pattern.
The study has identified several issues that need to be taken cognizance
of to revitalize the rural credit delivery system through the cooperatives.
One of these is wide variations in total and crop loan advances across
various districts and regions of Maharashtra. A decline in the loan advances
with rise in GCA in the Konkan region is another issue, but the most
important one among all is the mounting overdues and non-performing
assets (NPAs) of the cooperatives operating in both forward and backward
regions of Maharashtra. The viability of two central level credit institutions,
viz. Sangli District Central Cooperative Bank and Buldana District Central
Cooperative Bank, has been estimated. In order to rejuvenate the rural
credit delivery system through cooperatives, the major problems facing
the system, viz. high transaction cost, poor repayment performance,
mounting NPAs, distributional aspect of credit, low coverage of SC/ST
members, etc. need to be tackled with more fiscal jurisprudence reserving
exemplary punishment for willful defaults, particularly by the large farmers.