New Delhi, Dec 20 (PTI) A pilot project to provide Rupay Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) to cooperative societies members in two Gujarat districts has been successful and the number of transactions as well as the amount have gone up in rural cooperative banks, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.

In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Cooperation Minister Amit Shah said a pilot project has been started in Panchmahal and Banaskantha districts to expand the reach and capacity of rural co-operative banks and provide necessary liquidity to members of rural co-operative societies.

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Under the project, bank accounts of all cooperative societies members are being opened in the District Central Cooperative Banks and Rupay-KCCs are being distributed to them.

About 95,035 Rupay-KCCs have been distributed so far -- 66,234 in Panchmahal and 28,801 in Banaskantha, Shah said.

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During the pilot phase, the minister said, the "flow of funds in the rural cooperative banking sector in both districts has increased manifold in just few months".

The amount of transaction has increased to Rs 72.05 crore in September from Rs 27.76 crore in June, he added.

Shah said the RuPay-KCC is provided to farmers who have an account under the Kisan Credit Card Scheme to provide credit support to the agricultural and allied sector.

Through Rupay-KCC, farmers can avail of credit support at reasonably low interest rate (effectively 4 per cent) and they can also use the card to meet other financial and incidental consumption requirements, he said, adding that for dairy farmers no collateral is required for credit limit up to Rs 1.6 lakh, he said.

"Increased use of Rupay KCC in both districts through MicroATMs with Bank Mitra dairy cooperatives has also increased flow of funds through the cooperative banks ensuring cooperation amongst cooperatives," Shah added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)