Malda, Feb. 4: Chairman of West Bengal Central Cooperative Bank Samir Ghosh today announced that Rs 1,000 crore would be disbursed as farm loan in the state.

Ghosh also said new branches of the cooperative bank will be opened across the state. Foreign and nationalised banks are opening branches in every town, throwing a challenge to the cooperative banks, Ghosh said. “We will have to offer better interest rates to survive in the market,” he added at a conference here, where branch managers from all the districts of the state took part.

According to the bank chief, the cooperative banks will offer home loans at eight to 10 per cent interest and farmers can avail of loans at seven per cent interest. Over Rs 600 crore has already been disbursed, while the rest will be released in the current fiscal.

Ghosh claimed that there were nearly 1.25 lakh self-help groups under cooperative banks, which offered benefit to around 10 lakh farmers.

The chairman said the central cooperative banks were in a better position to realise debts. According to records, almost 95 per cent debtors have paid back their loans on time, as a result of which, the bank’s deposit has come to over Rs 5,000 crore.

According to Ghosh, loans to the tune of Rs 1,500 crore have been given to different undertakings of the state government.