PANAJI
Frequent breakdowns of the server of the Goa State Cooperative Bank Ltd (GSCBL) over the last more than a week or so caused disruption in downstream transactions and banking services in a multitude of smaller cooperative banks and credit cooperative societies affiliated to it.
Officials of several credit cooperative societies, many of which offer banking services including cash deposits and withdrawals besides fund transfers, faced difficulties in their day-to-day operations.
The GSCBL is a multi-State cooperative bank and is the apex bank for all smaller cooperative banks and credit societies in the State of Goa.
The smaller banks and societies are statutorily required by law to park their funds in the GSCBL and rely on its services to carry through their own transactions and services offered to their shareholders, depositors and customers.
GSCBL officials admitted their digital platform has faced disruptions for some days and that the technical team did intermittently rectify it but the problem kept recurring.
“It did affect the routine transactions between us and the cooperative credit societies linked to us. But we offered these entities to carry out the same transactions in physical mode, including cash transfers,” a GSCBL official said who did not want to be named as he is not authorised to speak to the media.
The affected credit societies however said the offer for carrying out physical transactions, including cash, was not feasible or practical for them as it involved covering long distances with many of their branches located in far flung rural areas.
“Also opting for the physical mode, even if temporary for a few days, involves huge risk as security is a problem,” an official of an urban credit society headquartered in Bardez said.
The official also claimed that the issues have been rectified and the bank’s digital banking platform will be functional.
The Goan tried contacting GSCBL chairman Ulhas Phaldesai to seek clarifications but he did not pick his calls.
