Bengaluru, Dec 7: The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) decision to keep cooperative banks out of the demonetisation scheme has hit dairy farmers hard in the state. Majority of the farmers has not been able to access money earned by them by supplying milk to the cooperative societies.
“The village-level milk producers' cooperative societies have deposited money towards the supply of milk to the farmers' accounts. But, the farmers have not been able to withdraw money due to the RBI regulation. However, those who have accounts in nationalised banks are not facing much problem,” Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) Director (Animal Husbandry) Suresh Babu said.
He said that Rs 249.39 crores have been deposited through electronic transfer to these societies ever since the RBI imposed the regulations. This includes payments for supplying milk from the society and Rs 4 incentive per litre of milk from the state government. The state has 14 district-level milk unions covering 30 districts. Money is deposited every week, he added.
KMF Managing Director Rakesh Singh said almost all the dairy farmers have bank accounts, and the government has been depositing Rs 4 incentive per litre of milk directly into their bank accounts. Those who have accounts in the cooperative banks are facing problem. The government has brought the issue to the RBI's notice and we hope it will come out with some solution soon, he added.
The Karnataka State Co-operative Apex Bank chairman and MLA?K N Rajanna said the RBI's decision has wrecked havoc in the rural economy. Not only the dairy farmers, almost all members of cooperative banks have been affected due to demonetisation.
The RBI is not justified in its decision to keep the cooperative banks out of demonetisation scheme. The Central bank has imposed regulation despite all the cooperative banks in Karnataka functioning as per its guidelines, he added.
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