MMCB all set to celebrate diamond jubilee

It is celebration time for the cooperative bank of the merchants of the city, Mysore Merchants Co-Operative Bank (MMCB), established six decades ago. The diamond jubilee of the MMCB will be held at Sri Shivaratri Rajendra Bhavan, on JSS Hospital premises in the city on Wednesday.

During drought there was scarcity of food supplies. Private banks used to exploit the merchant class, misusing the natural calamity. With the intention of supporting the merchants, Ragimandi Chowdaiah, a cooperative and social activists, founded the bank. Besides, the late Chinnaswamy Mudaliar, B Ramanna and others joined the cooperative movement. Thus, in the year 1959, the Mysore Merchants Co-Operative Society (MMCS) was formed.

With the support of a few generous wholesale merchants, the society could fight back the black market to a larger extent. Ram Iyer, who had an experience in a cooperative society was chosen to be the president of the society. Drought came under control in three years and the purpose of the society was well-served. With the initiative of the founders and their vision, the society was converted into the Mysore Merchants Co-Operative Bank. P Gopala Krishna Shetty served as the first president with 131 members and a share capital of Rs 56,429.

Founder Ragimandi Chowdaiah’s son Ragimandi C Vasanthu served the bank as president. Chowdaiah’s grandson C V Somashekar is on the board of Directors of the bank. The contributions of A B Srikantaiah as secretary and C Ekambara Naidu as general manager are still remembered.

Humble start

In the initial stages, the investment of the bank was Rs 3,100. Today, the bank’s investments are above Rs 88 crore. Advances to the customers has crossed Rs 269 crore. The profits of the bank during its inception was about Rs 8,900. It crossed Rs 5.6 crores in the year 2018-19.

Apart from doing business, the bank reciprocates to the needs of the society during national calamities by donating liberally to the Chief Minister’s relief fund.

The bank conducts health checkup camps every year to its members, recognises bright students of the members and honours them and provides education loan at low rates of interest for higher studies. It also provides medical assistance to its members.

The head office of the Mysore Merchants Co-operative Bank is located near Jaganmohan Palace in Mysuru. It has two branches, one at APMC Yard, Bandipalya, and another at Hebbal. It has adopted Core Banking Solutions and provides all modern facilities to its 6,806 members, with all modern infrastructure backed by a strong team.