AGRICULTURAL CREDIT BANKS IOI 



reserve, and 10 per cent, may be devoted to charity. 

 Government can prescribe a maximum rate of dividend 

 on shares by rule. Societies, of course, can themselves 

 provide for this in their by-laws. The most important 

 thing to notice is the powers of audit, inspection, and 

 control which the Government reserves. An annual 

 audit must be made by the Registrar or under his orders. 

 The audit must include an examination of overdue debts. 

 The Registrar may carry out an inquiry into the state of 

 any society of his own motion, and must do so on the 

 demand of three-fourths of the members. If a creditor 

 requests him to have the books inspected he must comply. 

 If the result of the inquiry shows that it is necessary he 

 can order the winding up of the society. 



I have only time to give you a few figures to illustrate 

 the marvellous growth of agricultural co-operative credit 

 in India in the eight years following the passing of the 

 Act of 1904. In 1905-06 there were 283 banks with a 

 membership of 28,629; in 1912-13, 12,324, with a member- 

 ship of 573,536. The increase during the last year in 

 the number of societies amounted to 50 per cent. The 

 capital rose from 31,548 to 3,562,286. The distribution 

 of the latter sum is interesting : 



Per cent. 



Loans from other societies ... 



Loans (mostly deposits) from individuals . ..25 



Deposits of members 



Share capital 



Reserve ... 



Loans from Government 



The loans made were in 1905-06, 22,696, and in 1912-13, 

 1,920,712. The most remarkable advance has been in 

 the Punjab, where the energy of the peasants, and the 

 fact that they own their own holdings, has supplied an 

 excellent field for co-operation. In Burma an interesting- 

 development is the starting of a number of insurance 

 societies. 



The organization of the societies varies a good deal 

 in different provinces. In Northern India the Bengal 

 societies are nearest to the original Raiffeisen type. The 

 Punjabi wanted shares and the prospect of future profit. 

 The shares, valued at 10 rupees (or 135. 4d.) each, are 



