INTRODUCTION:

The Andhra Pradesh State Co-operative Bank Ltd., was formed with the merger of the Andhra State Co-operative Bank Ltd., Vijayawada and the Hyderabad Co-operative Apex Bank Ltd., Hyderabad and started functioning from the 4th August, 1963 with its Head Quarters located at Hyderabad

The Andhra Pradesh State Cooperative Bank Ltd., (APCOB) is a Scheduled Bank established in the cooperative sector with State Govt. partnership. The Golden Jubilee of APCOB was celebrated in the year 2013.

A distinct feature of APCOB and its affiliated cooperative credit structure is that it encompasses the operations of the Long Term cooperative credit structure ever since amalgamation of the Long Term credit structure during the year 1987 at ground level and in the year 1994 at Apex/State level under the single window credit delivery system. The cooperative credit structure, thus, today serves the Short, Medium & Long term credit requirements of the farmers. At the Primary level, the PACS not only provide credit facilities but also cater to the other needs of the farmers viz. Inputs (seeds, fertilisers, pesticides), storage of produce, marketing, consumer goods etc., as a virtual one stop shop for all requirements of the farmers and rural community.

BIFURCATION OF APCOB:

Consequent bifurcation of the Andhra Pradesh State, the Andhra Pradesh State Cooperative Bank Ltd., has been reorganized/reconstituted into new Telangana State Cooperative Apex Bank Ltd., for the state of Telangana and residual Andhra Pradesh State Cooperative Bank Ltd., for the State of Andhra Pradesh. The two reconstituted/reorganized banks started functioning w.e.f 02.04.2015. In the process of the reorganization of Andhra Pradesh, the APCOB has relocated its headquarters to CRDA region of Vijayawada and started functioning w.e.f. 24.08.2016.

The Cooperative Credit System in Andhra Pradesh is a federal system consisting of three tiers:

• At Apex /State level APCOB is functioning with 15 branches and its headquarters is situated at Governorpet. The APCOB as a leader of cooperative credit structure not only provide has been offering all types of banking services to its clients.
• 1987 Primary Agriculture Credit Societies located in all Mandal headquarters and major villages in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
• 13 District Cooperative Central Banks with 395 branches located in district headquarters and small towns of Andhra Pradesh.

STATUS:

APCOB is a Scheduled Bank, included in the Second Schedule of Reserve Bank of India Act.,1934 w.e.f 16th July, 1966.

The Single Window Credit Delivery System in Andhra Pradesh was implemented by the merger of PADBs with DCCBs, re-organization of about 6,100 PACS into 4,464 PACS and re-organization of DCCBs on the basis of one DCCB for one District. This was formally implemented w.e.f. 01-04-1987.

The Andhra Pradesh Co-op Central Agricultural Development Bank (APCCADB) was merged with APCOB on 30-04-1994. Consequent to the merger of Primary Agricultural Development Banks (PADB) with DCCBs and APCCADB with APCOB, leads to growth in the Share Capital and resources base of the Bank.

At the instance of Govt. Of India and State Government, various measures like re-schedulement of loans, Prime Minister’s relief package, Agriculture Debt Waiver, Debt Relief Scheme, 2008, AP Debt Redemption Scheme-2014, etc., were implemented to alleviate the farming community. Also, these schemes aided to strengthen the financial position of entire Co-operative Credit Structure (CCS).

In addition to the above, on the recommendations of Vaidyanathan Committee, the provision of assistance by Govt. of India and State Govt., improved the financial position of CCS to a larger extent.

The Bank has been earning profits over the past 54 years. Since inception, APCOB has the distinction of being placed in ‘A’ category Audit classification consistently.

APCOB and all the 13 DCCBs in the state got license from RBI to operate banking business under Core Banking Solution (CBS) environment.

MISSION STATEMENT:

APCOB aims to be a leading, financially sustainable bank working on sound cooperative principles with a state-wide coverage in Andhra Pradesh, deeply involving communities we serve. We are committed to add value to the livelihoods and business undertaking of our members/clits and aim for lifelong partnerships with our clients. We are committed to offer our clients a full range of advanced financial products and convenient services via. State-of-the-art distribution system and technology, and high skilled staff, with a special focus to rural areas. Special attention will be given to serving farmers, cooperative & agribusiness enterprises, micro, small and medium enterprises and Individuals.

Vision:

APCOB is marching towards its Platinum Jubilee by 2038. In this context the vision statement of the Bank to be achieved by the centenary year is stated below

• To emerge as the best Rural Financial Institution in the state with a wide network of District Cooperative Central Bank and Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies, by fulfilling all credit and non-credit needs of the agriculture community.
• Envisages to provide best banking services, with the state of art technology to DCCB’s, to PACS/ Other Cooperative Institutions and to agriculture, industry, trade, service and manufacturing sectors, and to the general public.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE:

Consequent to bifurcation of the Bank, as per the provision in Bye –law No: 22 of the Bank, the Board of Management of the Bank was re-constituted on 2ndApril, 2015, with the following members:

a) Presidents of 13 DCCBs.

b) Registrar of Cooperative Societies, GoAP/ his nominee.

c) Chief General Manager, NABARD, A.P.R.O., Hyderabad (Special Invitee)/ his nominee.

d) One Professional Director/Subject Expert in Accounts (Co-opted w.e.f. 23.07.2015).

e) Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Bank.

The General Body consists of 13 DCCBs represented by the Presidents of DCCBs and Govt. of A.P., represented by CC&RCS.

The Bank has been consistently endeavoring to follow Good Corporate Governance practices through transparency, accountability, integrity and professionalism. The Board had constituted various committees as under, to provide specific and focused governance in the important functional areas and to oversee the affairs of the Bank.

FUNCTIONS OF APCOB:

• As an Apex Bank, APCOB acts as balancing center for resources of the Cooperatives in the State and also act as investment agency for DCCBs. APCOB is Nodal agency for channelization of funds from RBI/NABARD/Government to DCCBs and farmers through PACS by providing refinance facility to DCCBs.
• APCOB guide, support, assist the DCCBs and their members in improving their managerial capabilities, operational efficiency, technology adoption & upgradation, systems & procedures, training & research, providing incentives and to undertake and promote any such activity as may be beneficial to the overall growth of Cooperative Credit Structure in the State.
• APCOB established a separate training institute to impart training and capacity building of staff working in the Cooperative Credit Structure in the State.

KEY FINANCIAL INDICATORS:

The business of the bank has currently reached the level of Rs. 11403.08 Crore as on 31.03.2017.

* Rs.497.33 Crore was separated from reserves and marked as Provision against Standard Assets

TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION:

APCOB is a forerunner in adopting technology in the Cooperative Banking Sector. APCOB has taken steps to provide technology based services to bank’s clientele and also develop the Cooperative Credit Structure in the State of Andhra Pradesh. The APCOB and 13 DCCBs are working CBS platform. A centralised Information Technology Services Division (ITSD) is placed at Head Office of APCOB to look after all IT related issues.

• APCOB-ITSD started issuing the RuPay Debit Cards to customers of both APCOB and 13 DCCBs. And also DCCBs started issuing Rupay KCCs to the members through DCCBs.
• APCOB has launched the Mobile Banking Application, which is available to all the customers at free of cost.
• With the financial assistance from NABARD, APCOB –ITSD has deployed Micro ATMs in branches and PACSs of all DCCBs.
• PACS Computerization: Consequent to the budget announcement by the Hon’ble Finance Minister, GoI, allotting Rs.19,000 Crore for computerization of 63,000 functional PACS in the Country, guidelines are awaited from NABARD/GoI for implementation of PACS Computerization in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

COOPERATIVE TRAINING INSTITUTE:

Consequent upon bifurcation of the Bank, with an objective to improve the skills of the personnel working in the Cooperative Credit Structure in the State of Andhra Pradesh, APCOB has established its own Training Institute (APCOB- CTI) in March, 2016 at Barkatpura, Hyderabad. Subsequent to the shifting of APCOB Head Quarters to Vijayawada, a full pledged CTI was established.

VISION

To emerge as the premier Cooperative Training Institute offering top quality Training and Research to the Stakeholders of Cooperative Credit Structure and others relating thereto.

MISSION

Help building capacities of the personnel and elected representatives of the Cooperative Credit Structure in the State of Andhra Pradesh by providing Quality Training, Research and Related Services.

Accreditation by C-PEC, BIRD, Lucknow:

The institute is accredited with B+ grade by the centre for Professional Excellence in Cooperatives, BIRD, Lucknow vide Membership vide No:A-02010026 to promote professional excellence in Cooperative Credit Structure.

CCB Development Fund:

Objective:

Being the Apex level institution, APCOB has created a fund named CCB Development Fund (CDF) with a view to strengthen the Cooperative Credit Structure by providing financial assistance/ grant to PACS and DCCB for development of infrastructure facilities.

Under the fund, Bank will extend grant-in-aid/financial assistance facility for construction/ repairs of building viz. Godowns, Office buildings and purchase of infrastructure items, keeping in view of business developmental activities of PACS and DCCB.

Contribution to Fund:

Allocation of funds to CDF are made out of the net profit of the Bank after such apportionments made by the General Body of the Bank, from time to time as per the provisions of the bye-law No.36 (E) (viii) of APCOB. The fund shall be allocated equally among the DCC Banks and sanctions made to the respective DCC Bank from out of each of their allocations.

APCOB has reimbursed a total amount of Rs.342.17 lakh to DCCBs during 2016-17 towards infrastructure development of PACS & DCCB in the state under CDF and in 2017-18 (till date) an amount of Rs.233.91 lakh was reimbursed.

Personal Accident Insurance Scheme:

As per the directives of NABARD/RBI and Govt. of India, w.e.f.19.06.2010 APCOB has been implementing the Personal Accident Insurance Scheme for CKCC holders to the extent of coverage up to Rs.1.00 lakh. The DCCBs were allowed for the discretion to approach either any GOI owned General Insurance Company or any private insurance company to take advantage of competitive offers for insurance premium per individual member. The cost of premium is shared between member and the financing institution in the ratio of 1:2 respectively. The share of institutional premium is shared amongst the PACS, DCCBs and APCOB in the ratio of 2:2:1 respectively. . The details of amount released by APCOB towards APCOB share (subject to maximum of Rs.18/- per person) is as under:

Crop Insurance:

In accordance with the directives and time to time guidelines of GoI, the Bank through the network of 13 DCCBs has covered a total number of 3,87,761 and 3,71,509 farmers under crop insurance scheme Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) during the Kharif seasons 2016 and 2017 respectively. And also recorded minimal coverage during the Rabi 2016-17 season. However, the performance under the scheme under Rabi-2016-17 season was not encouraging, since the lending took place very late after the deadlines stipulated by the scheme, due to Demonetisation.

Developments in Technology Adoption:

• The 410 branches of both APCOB and 13 DCCBs in the state of Andhra Pradesh are functioning fully on CBS Environment and the centralised Department namely Information Technology Services Division (ITSD) has been placed in the HO of APCOB to address all technology related issues.
• The Bank has installed the ATMs in all the existing 15 (Eleven) Branches of APCOB and 82 ATMs in 13 DCCBs and also planning to Install ATMs in all branches of 13 DCCBs.
• APCOB-ITSD started issuing the RuPay Debit Cards to customers of both APCOB and 13 DCCBs in the Month of June 2016. So far 1,60,552 cards (approximately) have been distributed to its customers.
• APCOB has launched the Mobile Banking Application which is available to all the customers at free of cost. With this facility, customers can view their account balances, access mini statement, transfer funds among linked accounts, transfer of funds from customers of our Bank and transfer funds to other Bank Accounts through NEFT.
• The Bank started the Mobile ATM recently, which will act as ATM on wheels to fulfil the needs of the Customers at their door step in the Capital City.
• APCOB with the financial Support of the NABARD started the implementation of the “PACS as Deposit Mobilization Agent (DMA) ” scheme in 4 DCCBs, namely Vizianagaram, Krishna, Guntur, and Chittoor. Under this project, assistance for setting up of FLCs, procuring ATMs, Micro ATMs, Rupay card assistance will be provided.
• Recently NABARD has sanctioned an amount of Rs.5.35 crore (90% of total expenditure) for establishment of 2375 Micro ATMs in PACS and Branches of 13 DCCBs. APCOB-ITSD has initiated steps for establishment of the same. So far, ITSD has deployed 1526 Micro ATMs to 13 DCCBs.
• APCOB-ITSD with the financial support of the NABARD has initiated steps for issuance of RuPay KCCs to 15.05 lakh (approx.) borrowing members of the 1987 PACS in the State of Andhra Pradesh. So far 11,76,194 cards to farmers.
• The Bank through the 13 DCCBs has initiated steps for supply of m PoS and e PoS, machines to PACS, Rythu Bazar, Milk Units, Marketing Federations and Merchants etc., as per their requirement to meet the cash less transactions of customers under post demonetisation scenario.
• APCOB in coordination with the GOAP and DCCBs has initiated steps to make necessary arrangements for smooth implementation of the PACS Computerisation Project of GOI which will start from 01.04.2018.

Implementation of Social Security Schemes:

APCOB and DCCBs with the Branch network of 410(15+395) branches across the State of Andhra Pradesh have been implementing the National Social Security Schemes Viz., Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Pradhan Mantri Surakhsha Bima Yojana (PMSBY). As on 31.12.2017, 8,210 and 34,917customers have been covered under PMJJBY and PMSBY schemes respectively.

Cooperative Kisan Credit Card-Cum-Pass Book (CKCC) Scheme:

The Cooperative Kisan Credit Card cum Pass Book Scheme was introduced by APCOB from 1998-99 Rabi season, and pass books were provided to all members of PACS/DCCBs. The main objective of the scheme is to provide timely and hassle-free credit to farmers. The total CKCC Cards issued to members were 15,69,835 as on 31.03.2017.

Special Category Staff Assistants:

The Government of India had launched a Half-a-million job scheme in the year 1973 and accordingly, the GOAP vide G.O.Ms. No.390 dt.12-7-1973 appointed unemployed youth as Paid Secretaries to work in the Districts with PACS. The cadre fund was created with contribution from APCOB, CCBs and PACS out of which their salaries were paid and Paid Secretaries are called as Cadre Secretaries.

The Government issued orders vide G.O.Ms. No. 67 dt.20.2.2009 permitting the DCCBs to take back the services of decaderised Paid Secretaries to enable the PACS to comply with the expenditure ceiling fixed by the NABARD under Section 115-D(2) of APCS Act 1964. The reverted decaderised Paid Secretaries will constitute a special category of assistants and will draw emoluments in the scale fixed by the Government from the date of joining in DCCBs.

Accordingly, a Memorandum of Intent dt.11-1-2013 was signed by Chairman, A.P. Coop. Bank’s Association and the President, A.P. State DCCB Employees Union, for payment of terminal benefits viz., Gratuity, Leave Encashment facilities to the SCAs who were taken into the services of DCCBs as on 01-03-2009 and thereafter; rendered service upto 5 years in the DCCBs and also a sum of Rs.1,50,000/- in addition to the computed amounts payable as indicated shall be paid as a compensatory benefit to them. This commitment of additional compensation shall be shared by the DCCB and APCOB at Rs.75,000/- each.

Under the scheme, an amount of Rs.8,64,94,886.36 was created as corpus to 1152 SCSAs of DCCBs pertaining to the state of Andhra Pradesh including the cushion amount of Rs.94,886.36. Out of which, an amount of Rs.6,56,25,000.00 was reimbursed to DCCBs towards APCOBs share in Additional Compensation in respect of 875 SCSAs till date.

A total amount of Rs.13,50,000/- was paid to 18 SCSAs of DCCBs during the years 2016-17 & 2017-18 (till date).