KATHMANDU, August 29: Nepali cooperatives have stepped up efforts for merger at a time when a large number of banks and insurance companies have been looking forward to unification.

On Saturday, five Kathmandu Valley-based cooperatives signed an agreement for merger. These include Ideal Yamuna Multipurpose Cooperative, National Namobuddha Savings and Credit Cooperative, Nagarik Kalyan Multipurpose Cooperative, Satkar Savings and Credit Cooperative and Ghedung Multipurpose Cooperative.

These cooperatives have consented to conduct an integrated general meeting in the next one and a half months. The cooperative formed after the unification will be named ‘National Ideal Yamuna Savings and Credit Cooperative’ whereas its total share capital will be Rs 300 million.

The total assets of the cooperative will be worth Rs 7.58 billion. It will have 30,020 members in total.

The country’s cooperatives have now been facing problems of liquidity crunch while a number of them including Gautam Cooperatives of Kathmandu and Baraha Saving and Credit Cooperative Society of Dharan have already landed in financial problems. These cooperatives have failed to pay back billions of rupees of their depositors.      

There are more than 30,000 cooperatives operating across the country. Citing the excessive number, the government has also been pressing the cooperatives to merge.

 
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