Socio-Economic Development Through Co-Operative Banks: A Quantitative ABCD Analysis

Co-operative banks play a crucial role in providing financial services, promoting community development and offering skill enhancement programs for inclusive growth in rural areas. However, they face challenges such as limited resources, governance issues, lack of innovation, limited outreach, and dependency on external support. Considering this background, present research has aimed to analyze the Advantages, Benefits, Constraints, and Disadvantages (ABCD) of cooperative banks in promoting socioeconomic development. The study has also evaluated the applicability of the ABCD framework for analyzing this development. It has employed a hybrid approach of qualitative and quantitative research, deriving indicators from previous investigations and conducting focused group interviews with 100 cooperative bank beneficiaries in each taluk of Dakshina Kannada. The findings indicated that cooperatives have more advantages than disadvantages and constraints in addressing social, economic, educational, health, employment, and infrastructural issues, thereby enhancing socioeconomic development. It was suggested that cooperatives are the major catalyst in improving the socio-economic development of the underprivileged. The derived determinant issues and constituent elements can assist government surveys to analyze the rural community's current state and inform relevant policy measures for development. Additionally, these metrics can be used to evaluate the success of cooperative banks in different regions.