Mangaluru : Chairman of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) Harsh Kumar Bhanwala said on Thursday that the South Canara District Central Cooperative (SCDCC) Bank can open a skill development centre and NABARD will bear the cost of training.

Addressing a gathering at the inauguration of ‘uthkrushta sahakari soudha’, the new building of the bank on the occasion of the bank completing 100 years, he said SCDCC bank could organise five or six skill development courses of two or three month duration. The NABARD would fund the training programmes.

The chairman suggested that cooperative banks diversify their lending portfolio to areas such as housing schemes. But they should not ignore the farm sector, which should continue to be a priority area.

However, some banks’ total lending to the farm sector up to 90 per cent or above. Such banks might have trouble in recovery in case of drought or natural calamities, he said. Mr. Bhanwala also suggested that the SCDCC bank enable mobile banking services.

The Reserve Bank of India has so far permitted only one district central cooperative bank to introduce mobile banking. SCDCC bank could emerge as the second district central cooperative bank if it opted for mobile banking.

Chairman of SCDCC Bank M.N. Rajendra Kumar announced that the bank would give Rs. 10 lakh to Nepal victims. In addition, the employees of the bank would contribute their one day’s salary to relief operations.