A STORY OF TRANSFORMATIVE CONTRIBUTION

SUCCESS STORY EXPERIENCED AT CHUCHUYIMLANG BRANCH IN NAGALAND

Chuchuyimlang, a place situated on the hill at a distance of 28 km from Mokokchung District HQ of Nagaland State. The total population is not more than 12000. The Branch of State Bank of India which has service area comprising of villages of Chuchuyimlang, Chakpa, Salulamang, Mongsenyimti, Yongyimti , Ungar and some other villages scattered at a remote area.

The township status of tow is given to the place where our Branch is located together with a small shopping centre. I was posted as the Branch Manager of Chuchuyimlang Branch in the year 2004. I took over the charge of the Branch in September, 2004 and started working there amidst a lot of constraints. Since inception, the Branch could not make any profit. The growth of business was also very thin. The local people did not consider the bank as an important financial institution for cultivating savings culture but for availing various government sponsored loan facilities with the perception that such loans are funded by the Government. This perception discouraged the borrowers to repay their loans. In general, the people had the tendency to avail a loan without having any plan for income generating activity.

With the passage of time, I observed that the people were not in the habit of maintaining deposit accounts with the Bank. The bundle of unused Account Opening Forms lying in the Branch Stationery Room made me to think about why people are not interested in maintaining deposit accounts and where is the cash revolving around without coming to the Banking channel. I discovered a very bad element which had been deeply rooted in the society and made the society economically paralyzed since long back. That very bad element was the practice of private money lending at a higher rate of interest Rs.5/- to Rs.10/- per hundred per month. A handful of individual money lenders and few such unorganized groups had the control over the funds. As such, how the Bank can expect deposit growth and recovery of loan so long as this malaise of private lending would continue ?


My experience of dealing with more than 200 SHGs at my previous Branch of Biswnathghat under Sonitpur District of Assam, encouraged me to initiate steps for defeating the private lending practice by organizing SHGs and financing under direct linkage as many as possible. But that was not as easy, as the people were not aware about the SHGs and its benefits. They did not show so much patience to adopt the culture of SHG which required maintenance of deposit account, depositing monthly contribution, maintenance of Cash Book, Loan Ledger, SB Ledger etc. In the mean time, I learnt that the Vice Cahirman of Chuchuyimlang Town Committee, Mr Tamalepden Pongener, himself was involved in a private lending group which had a fund of Rs.45000/- of their own. Mr Tamalepden pongener was closely associated with the Bank by virtue of being owner of Bank’s generator and he was a socially influential person. I interacted with their group and showed the path of SHG. They were inclined to form a SHG in the name of “Terenemjen SHG’ . They opened their Savings Bank account at our Branch and deposited entire fund that they had in their hand. Thereafter, they continued depositing monthly member’s contributions in expectation of getting a direct loan facility as I committed them. But the strict adherence of one condition of charging interest rate of maximum Rs.3/- per hundred was insisted upon making them aware about true purpose of helping the needy people through their SHG. They understood my points very well. I thought of a plan to show this SHG as model one to be imitated by the other people who are not coming forward to form SHG like them.

With this purpose, I put some extra effort with them for maintaining Cash Book, Loan Ledger, SB Ledger etc which were written by me first and then they could maintain themselves. In the course of time, as per Bank’s systems and procedures, a direct loan of limit Rs.30,000/- was sanctioned to them for the purpose of on-lending among themselves giving a monthly repayment schedule of 24 months. As soon as this message spread in the public, other people were also inclined towards formation of SHG. In view of positive attitude shown by the people, I requested the members of the “Terenemjen SHG” to motivate the people towards forming SHG. In this regard, the Vice-Chairman took the initiative for educating the people through their own language. This way, we were able to organize a number of 35 Self Help Groups, the majority of which were women group. All the SHGs were financed under direct Linkage sanctioning a loan limit of ranging from minimum Rs.10,000/- and Rs.50,000/- in maximum. It was observed that the repayment of such loans were very regular.

The SHG culture among the people had a deep impact on the local Church Committee. It was seen that the concerned Management Committee of the Church took a resolution to stop the practice of private money lending and keep an amount of Rs.9 lacs as STDR at our Branch. On the other hand, sanctioning of KCC limit of Rs.10,000/- to Rs.20000/- each made a fund of Rs.12lac available in the society at a very lower rate of interest. As a result, the money in the hands of private lenders became idle and they had to deposit their idle funds into their Bank accounts, because the people left them and joined the SHGs. In the process, the Branch could achieve a deposit of more than 1 core in the span of two years time.

The friendly relationship between the Bank and the SHGs created a conducive atmosphere at the place. With the help of SHG members, a good amount of recovery could be made in respect of written-off IRDP/PMRY loans. The Branch could register a profit of Rs.35000/- in the month of May 2007 for the first time.

One day, Bank’s Police Guard came into my Chamber to inform that Finance Secretary of insurgent organization has come to see me. Without any hesitation, I allowed him to come in. The visitor was welcomed with due respect. I was afraid thinking that he might have come for demanding some tax from us. But it was proved wrong when the visitor started appreciating me for helping the poor people by organizing SHG at the place. Before leaving the Bank, he assured me to help in need and provided their contact number with me. Of course, I never had an opportunity to do that because I was comfortable there and my all sorts of difficulties were taken care of by the body of Village Council/Town Committee.

This had not only transformed and improved the living conditions of people of that area by bringing them out of the clutches of private money lenders but also resulted in the Bank benefiting by way of accruals in deposits, advances and net profit.

Though I got transferred from Chuchuyimlang Branch to Tezpur Branch in the month of May 2007, I am still maintaining relationship with the people of Chuchyimlang over telephone. The people of Chuchuyimlang will not forget me and I also would not forget Chuchuyimlang till my death.


UJJAL KUMAR BORAH
DEPUTY MANAGER
SBI, TEZPUR BRANCH