By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, December 7, 2016 : Cooperative Banks in Odisha are having tough time post demonetisation, Cooperation Minister Damodar Rout on Wednesday told the Odisha Assembly.

“An order was issued after demonetisation that cooperative banks in the country cannot do any business. As a result of that like elsewhere in the country, monetary transactions in all cooperative societies in our state stopped. Those who had deposited their money in cooperative banks, they too could not withdraw their money which led to complete chaos. For that reason, the Chief Minister had written a letter to the Union Finance Minister. Even Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was requested on this account,” said Rout responding to a query by Congress MLA Chiranjib Biswal.

“As of now RBI has made some relaxation for cooperative banks to transact business. Still, cooperative banks are not getting enough cash as per their requirement. There has been some improvement in the situation now after cooperative banks were rendered defunct after demonetisation,” he added.

Rout said: “There is a serious problem in the business transaction of cooperative banks. Especially, farmers are facing hardships. Disbursement of loan amounts to farmers whose loans have been sanctioned has been affected due to unavailability of sufficient cash. On the other hand, due to restrictions, farmers who have deposits with cooperative banks are unable to withdraw their money. Efforts are on to bring improvement in the situation.”

Of 4345 cooperative banks in the state 2076 are running in loss, the minister added.