Kerala Bank

The Kerala State Co-operative Bank Ltd. (Kerala Bank) was formed by merging 13 District Co-operative Banks (DCBs) and State Co-operative Bank of Kerala. It is the first Scheduled Bank - established by the Government of Kerala - in the cooperative sector of India.

The Kerala bank was officially launched on November 6, 2019, by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at a function held in Thiruvananthapuram and started functioning on November 29, 2019.

The only Co-operative Bank that is not included in Kerala Bank is the Malappuram District Co-operative Bank.

Basic Facts

  • Headquarters – Thiruvananthapuram.
  • First President / Founding President of Kerala Bank – Gopi Kottamurikkal.
  • First Vice President of Kerala Bank – M.K. Kannan.
  • First CEO of Kerala Bank – Rajan P. S.
  • Current CEO of Kerala Bank – Jorty M Chacko.
  • First Administrator of Kerala Bank – Mini Anthony.
  • Committee constituted by the Govt of Kerala to conduct a detailed study on the formation of Kerala Co-operative Bank – Prof. M.S. Shriram Committee.

History

Kerala bank's origin can be traced back to Trivandrum Central Co-operative Bank (1915), the first Cooperative Society to be formed in the princely state of Travancore.

The Trivandrum Central Co-operative Bank was established by Sree Moolam Thirunal Ramavarma in 1914 through the proclamation of "The Travancore Co-operative Societies Regulation Act."

In 1954, it was re-organized as State Co-operative Bank for Travancore-Cochin State. After the State Re-organization of 1956, the bank was escalated to "The Kerala State Co-operative Bank Ltd" with a working capital of ₹42.90 lakhs.

In 1966, it was included in the 2nd Schedule of the Reserve Bank of India Act 1934 and in 1972, a license was issued for carrying out the business of Banking under Section 22 of the Banking Regulation Act,1966. 

In November 2019, it was re-branded as "Kerala Bank" with the merger of 13 DCBs and State Co-operative Bank becoming the first state-owned bank in the cooperative sector.


Structure

The new revamped structure of Kerala Bank is as follows:

  1. General Body
    • Delegates of 'A' Class Members: Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS's) & Urban Co-operative Banks (UCB's)
    • Ex-officio Directors
    • Directors nominated by the Government
  2. Board of Directors – 21 Members

The overall power and authority of the functioning of the bank are vested with the General body. 

A Board of Management is selected from the Board of Directors as per the RBI guidelines. The management of the Bank rests with this board subjective to the control of the General body.

The Kerala Bank has now 7 regional offices that handle the functioning of the bank in two districts (merging 2 DCBs each).

📝SideNotes:

  • First Bank of Kerala – Nedungadi Bank (1899).
    • Established by – Appu Nedungadi (Author of First Malayalam Novel, Kundalatha).
    • First Private Bank in South India.
    • Merged with Punjab National Bank in 2003.
  • First Commercial Bank in the co-operative sector – Kerala Bank.