KATHMANDU: Of the nearly 1,900 cooperatives operating within Kathmandu Metropolitan City, only 723 have been submitting their annual reports regularly, according to the metropolis.
Data from the Cooperative Department of the metropolitan city shows that nearly half of the cooperatives have failed to submit their reports on a regular basis, raising concerns about transparency and compliance. Officials say such a trend may indicate underlying problems in those institutions.
Chief of the Cooperative Department, Dhruba Kumar Kafle, said the metropolis has repeatedly urged cooperatives to submit their annual reports. However, many have continued to ignore the directive.
He warned that the metropolis is preparing to initiate legal action against cooperatives that fail to comply despite repeated requests.
“Some cooperatives do not even come into contact, while others fail to submit reports because they are already under investigation. There are also cooperatives that have issued loans in violation of the law and do not submit their reports regularly,” Kafle said.
He added that such institutions have already been instructed to immediately complete their annual general meetings, finalize audit reports, and submit the decisions of their general assemblies along with annual reports to the metropolitan cooperative department.
According to Kafle, the metropolis has so far refrained from immediately moving toward dissolution of non-compliant cooperatives, as doing so could put depositors’ savings at risk. Instead, authorities plan to first obtain the required reports before initiating the cancellation process.
Meanwhile, the metropolis has also urged depositors to be cautious while saving money in cooperatives.
Kafle advised people to verify whether a cooperative is operating according to regulations, whether its accounts are regularly audited, whether the interest rate is reasonable, and whether the institution maintains financial transparency and regulatory oversight before depositing money.
He warned against investing blindly in cooperatives run by friends or relatives. “People should avoid the mindset that it is safe to deposit money simply because a cooperative is run by someone they know. Otherwise, their savings could be at risk,” he said.
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