Himalayan News Service

Rajbiraj, June 25:

Small businessmen of the district have become attracted towards cooperatives due to easy accessibility to loans. The banks ask for bonds to provide loans while the cooperatives do not. This has added to the attraction of the cooperatives. Parvej Ansari, manager of Alatkuwa Multiple Cooperative Organisation at Rajbiraj, said that Rashtriya Banijya Bank, Agriculture Development Bank, Nepal Bank Ltd and other banks do not prioritise people who ask for loan less than five million rupees. “So, for these loans, businessmen come to us,” he added.

Despite a higher interest rate, businessmen come to cooperatives due to their hassle-free process of providing loans, said Khalid Ansari, shareholder of Welfare Nepal. He said that with increased attraction for cooperatives, there has been a drastic increase in the number of cooperatives in the district.

Bihari Yadav, chief of District Cooperative Organisation, said that there are 285 registered cooperatives in Saptari district. Around 27.498 millions have been saved in these cooperatives while Rs 15.7 million has been loaned during this fiscal year. Ganga Prasad Shah, a tin businessman at Rajbiraj, said that he took a Rs 50,000 loan from Alatkuwa cooperative and has been running his business smoothly. Another businessman, Krishna Kumar Gupta also took a Rs 25,000 loan from the same cooperative after he failed to get a loan from Rashtriya Banijya Bank.