Puri: The Puri Urban Cooperative Bank has obtained the license from the Reserve Bank of India to do banking business.
RBI Regional Licence Authority Manoj Kumar Singh presented the licence to the bank’s president Chandi Prasad Singh at a formal function at the RBI in Bhubaneswar on October 21.
Briefing newsmen on the occasion, Singh said that it was his long-cherished desire got fulfilled.
In 1948, 40 people of Puri started the bank with a meagre capital of Rs 3,000. In course of time, the membership swelled to 40,000 with a deposit of over Rs 46 crore. While loans and advances reflect Rs 27 crore, it has an unutilised fund of over Rs 21 crore, Singh said.
Stating that efforts were on to invest this fund in commercial ventures to earn profit, he said that the bank was going to introduce core banking service connecting the other branches of the bank.
Efforts are on to open branches of the bank in Chandanpur, Chhaitana and Brahmagiri, he said, adding that there were some recoverable old loans of about Rs 4 crore, for which legal steps are being initiated in the court, while collateral securities are to be put on auction, Singh said.