At a time when cooperative banks in the country are struggling to remain afloat, Pune-based Mahesh Sahakari Bank has moved along smoothly by adopting modern technology and banking services.

A small financial institution with 10 branches, and a total net worth of Rs 216 crore, Rs 343 crore deposit base and loan assets worth Rs 213 crore, the bank is all set to provide ATM and real time gross settlement (RTGS) facilities.

With the help of Netsol, an IBM company, it established smooth connectivity between its head office, branches and users. The shift to a core banking system last year streamlined many processes and brought down operational costs. “By adopting intranet billing solution, we have moved out of paperwork regime,” said Promod Kulkarni, managing director, Mahesh Sahakari Bank.

“The new additions like ATMs, cheque depository machines and cheque printing and vending machines and RTGS -- the fastest money transfer system, will position us as a customer-friendly and modern bank", said Kulkarni. “Our efforts have paid dividends. If we were considerably losing our accounts two years back, this year there is a 10-12 per cent increase in the customer-base. Users, especially younger people, are happy with our services and we have also added some high net worth customers,” he said. As he puts forward a survival model for cooperative banks, he finds that lack of awareness is holding the sector back.

“Many of them are not aware of the fact that advanced technology is as much accessible to them. They find it too expensive or out of their reach. In fact the technology partnership with IBM cost us less than Rs 2 crore,” he said. Many smaller cooperative banks do not know which technology is appropriate for them, said K Unnikrishnan, deputy chief executive of Indian Banks Association.

According to Kumar Karpe, country manager, Financial Services Sector, IBM India, large and established technology providers were as much willing to help the smaller banks with limited resources. These banks can also have the services of the technology providers first and make the payments as they grow. Further, they can collaborate with other cooperative banks and share centralised databases and technological resources, Karpe said.