BANKING TRADE AND COMMERCE

INTRODUCTION

ALTHOUGH THE INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK OF THE ECONOMIC SYSTEM IS UNIFORM ALL OVER THE STATE, there prevails a wide range of diversity in the development of the credit institutions  amongst the districts. This uneven development of the institutions is the result of a large number of factors such as location, the system of communications, availability of resources and the economic conditions of the masses. It is on account of these multifarious conditions that Amravati district reveals the peculiarities of its own financial structure.

Here, then, one comes across the same set of credit institutions, viz., the money-lender, the banking organisation, the cooperative societies, the joint-stock companies and the other agencies extending financial assistance to the people in the district. Of these, the moneylender is the oldest institution which has survived through centuries with little of its pristine pattern. Although it still holds a paramount influence over the agricultural masses, it has been gradually undermined with the expanding business of the banking organisation. At Amravati proper these organisations flourished with favourable trade conditions and facilities obtained on the establishment of the State Bank in the city. The co-operative movement, too, has spread its wings all over the district and has given people a new hope for better production, better marketing, and above all, better financial returns to its members. Side by side with the agricultural credit societies, which mostly influence the activities of the rural people, there is also a growth of many non-agricultural and production societies in this district. Much, however, is still expected of the co-operative movement suffering, as it is, from drawbacks such as improper linking of credit with marketing, poor recovery of loans financed by the societies and at some places a habitual preference for the money-lender by the agriculturists over their own organisations.

With the attainment of Independence, the old set-up of economic institutions underwent a remarkable change. It led to the expansion of the public sector. It restricted the private interests and reduced their profit margins. It also competed favourably with private oganisations in catering to the needs of people in the district and cutting across the chain of middlemen. Especially, in the field of Trade and Commerce, it supplied a fresh incentive to producers through higher economic gains.

But that is not all. With the passing of the Bombay Agricultural Produce Markets Act in 1939, many of the agricultural commodities were regulated and conditions governing trade were controlled. With the establishment of a number of Marketing Committees, trade was further facilitated throughout the district. Such developments were essential for any district but in Amravati, where trade in cotton and orange rules supreme, they were of special importance. It was not, however, by a negative approach through rules and regulations as by its active participation in the various economic activities that the State's role is gaining importance. " State trading" is an illustration in point. The establishment of fair-price shops to check the rising trend of prices and relaxing the strain of higher cost of living needs special mention in this context. The growing participation of the State in the economic affairs of the district thus constitutes an important land-mark in the history of the various economic and commercial organisations in the district which the following pages unfold.

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