The Bank, which was established by collecting rupee one from its common members by way of installments towards its Share Capital, retained the word `Rupee' in its new name thus reaffirming its pledge towards the common man.

Visionaries who were inspired by the work of late Shri Lokmanya Tilak, a noted Freedom Fighter, established Rupee Co-operative Bank in 1912. Rupee Co-op. Bank Ltd. is one of the leading Urban Co-op. Banks of the country. The most remembered names of Late Govind Ganesh Dharap, Late Kalurambhau Mansaram Naik and Late Keshav Rajaram Doke, the founder members were those people who converted teachings of Late Shri. Lokmanya Tilak into reality. The Bank was founded for the benefit of a common man and to spread the message of co-operation. Started with a small deposit of Rs. 858/- in 1912, the bank crossed the landmark figure of Rs. 1,000 crores in 1998.

The Bank which was originally named as 'The Poona District Co-op. Rupee Bank Ltd.' was renamed as `Rupee Co-op. Bank Ltd.' in 1980-81. Initially, the bank collected rupee one from its common members by way of installments towards its Share Capital, retained the word `Rupee' in its new name thus reaffirming its pledge towards the common man.

The Bank became a Scheduled Bank in 1988, very first day when RBI decided to accord the status of Scheduled Banks to Co-operative Banks in India. Rupee Bank ranks 3rd amongst 1,936 Urban Co-operative Banks in India today.

"Rupee Bank" is not only a Bank but it is a movement of socially committed people. Some of their social activities include arrangement of blood donation camps, financial help (and not loans) for critical surgeries to the needy people, help to disaster-affected people, felicitation of brilliant students and actual work during the period of hostilities in Kargil.

The Bank is conscious about the quality and has got an ISO - 9002 certification to one of its branches.

The Bank has set several targets for 2003. By 2003 Rupee Co-op. Bank Ltd. plans to have at least one Branch office in all the Districts of Maharashtra State. By 2003, not only all the Branches/Offices would be fully computerised but will also have inter-connectivity, which will facilitate transaction from any centres of the Bank. The agenda for 2003 includes electronic transfer of funds, telebanking, home banking etc. In new product development, bank has plans to design new deposit scheme with flexible interest rates and easy liquidity and also plans to enter into full-fledged forex operations. Very shortly the Bank would be entering into Hire Purchase and Leasing on a large scale as alternative to traditional loaning systems. Bank is also negotiating for introduction of a unique credit card, again for the first time in co-op. sector. It is predicted that the role of people in tomorrow's banking would be diminishing, and it would be mostly paperless, peopleless, but purely electronic retail banking.

Today they have about 19 branches in and around the city & District, besides branches in Mumbai, Thane, Kolhapur, Nashik, Aurangabad and Nagpur.

Address : 2062, Sadashiv Peth, Pune 411 030. Phone: 433 6598, 433 3795.
Fax: 433 7519.
URL: www.rupee.com

Prasad Hiranwar
Text & Photos Courtesy: Rupee Bank