IDD, NABARD, HO & BIRD, Lucknow “National Conference of Cooperative Banks – Regaining Leadership in Agricultural Finance” – 08 & 09 February 2016 at BIRD, Lucknow “National Conference of Cooperative Banks – Regaining Leadership in Agricultural Finance” was organized by IDD, NABARD HO and was conducted at BIRD, Lucknow on 8-9 February 2016. Delegates to the Conference included Chairmen and CEOs of StCBs, Principal Secretary/RCS, Cooperation, senior officers from Government of India, RBI, NABARD, Chairman and MD, NAFSCOB and other national level Institutions. The Conference was graced by Shri R. Gandhi, Deputy Governor, RBI, Dr. H. K. Bhanwala, Chairman, NABARD. Shri Dileepbhai Sanghani, Chairman, NAFSCOB, Dr. Ashish Kumar Bhutani, IAS, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Shri N. S. Viswanathan, ED, RBI and Ms. Suma Varma, Principal CGM, RBI, Smt. Nanda Sameer Dave, CGM, RBI; Smt Supriya Pattnaik RD RBI Lucknow & Shri Ajay Kumar, CGM RBI, Lucknow were other dignitaries present in the Conference. Dr. D. V. Deshpande, Director, BIRD, welcomed the dignitaries. Shri H.R. Dave, DMD explained objectives of the National Conference. Dr. H. K. Bhanwala, Chairman, NABARD delivered the inaugural address and emphasized on deliberating and evolving implementable action plan to enable the Cooperatives to regain their leadership in agricultural finance. Shri R. Gandhi, Deputy Governor, RBI in his key note address touched upon history of Cooperatives and its uniqueness for having a mention in the Constitution of India, five year plan documents of GoI and speeches of leaders like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru reflecting upon the realization of its importance since long. He highlighted the need to reposition rural cooperatives for capturing the minds of Gen-next. While answering the questions from the audience, he very clearly indicated that once an organization is functioning as ‘Bank’, it has to adhere to some minimum requirements–these requirements are already relaxed for cooperative banks but once decided, can not be relaxed further. Shri Mahendra Jain, IAS, Addl. Chief Secretary, Govt. of Karnataka Chaired a panel on “Regulation, Supervision and Audit” also addressed the delegates about his thoughts on the subject. Shri N S Vishwanathan, ED RBI co-chaired a panel “Regulation, Supervision and Audit” also addressed the delegates about his thoughts on the subject as well as delivered the valedictory address. Two publications viz.(1) ‘Analytical Review of Financial Performance of State Cooperative Banks as on 31 March 2015’ by IDD NABARD, HO and (2) ‘Technical Manual for Training of Cooperative Banks’ prepared by C-PEC, BIRD, Lucknow – were also released during