Kochi: The Kerala State Cooperative Bank has reduced the interest rates for its loans and has announced that it will make available Rs 1,000-crore short-term loans through cooperatives to the crisis-hit agriculture sector of the state.

The bank president P A Ummer said it has also been decided to reduce the interest for loans from April 2002. As per this, the interest rate for loans up to Rs 50,000 will be 13 per cent; 14 per cent for loans up to Rs 2 lakh; and 15 per cent for the loans up to Rs 5 lakh. Saying that the agriculture sector will be the priority in the scheme of things in the coming days, he said the bank has decided to provide Rs 200 crore as loan to Rubco.

Ummer said a new loan scheme has being chalked out, as data collected from primary district cooperative banks have shown that the agriculture sector is not getting priority. A scheme has already been submitted to the government.

During 2002-2003 the bank targeted mobilisation of deposit to the tune of Rs 1932.88 crore, disbursement of loans to the tune of Rs 1458.55 crore, an income of Rs 264.04 crore and expenditure of Rs 254.28 crore. The bank also envisaged a profit of Rs 176 lakh during the next year.

The bank announced that it will make available Rs 500 crore as loan for a consortium formed in taluk, district and state levels in the cooperative sector to procure agriculture produces, process them and to market them in domestic and international markets, agriculture-based small- and large-scale industries to construct bridges, bypasses, flyovers, shopping complexes and power generating units.

Ummer said equitable mortgaging will be made available to those taking loans from the primary banks, apart from providing assistance to self-help groups. It has also been decided to set up a surplus fund management wing in the bank, help the formation of an apex body for helping the processing and exporting of oil seeds, and to constitute a separate fund for providing rebate in interest for non-defaulters of loans.

As part of converting the loss-making primary banks into profit-making ones, he said a scheme will be chalked out by the Agricultural Cooperative Staff Training Institute (a unit that works under the bank), and will enter into an agreement with primary banks, on the basis of which financial assistance will be provided.

Ummer said it has also been decided to computerise all the cooperative banks and to develop software for introducing a unified accounting system for banks.