August 28: With the rise in unhealthy competition among cooperatives due to numerical growth, the cooperatives have started opting for spontaneous integration (merger). Although the Department of Cooperatives had introduced the merger procedure in 2070, the cooperatives were skeptical about merger until now. However, the cooperatives have realized the need of merger in recent times. The wave of merger of cooperatives has started after it became difficult for them to survive in the competitive market.

Recently, five cooperatives of Kathmandu have entered into an agreement to merge with each other. Idol Yamuna Multipurpose Cooperative, National Namobuddha Savings and Loan Cooperative, Citizen Welfare Multipurpose Cooperative, Satkar Savings and Loan Cooperative and Ghedung Multipurpose Cooperative Limited have entered into an agreement to merge on Saturday.

After the merger, the annual transaction of the organization will exceed Rs 9 billion and the savings will exceed Rs 5.637 billion. The loan investment of the organization will reach Rs 4. 99 billion. It was informed that the valuation of the total assets of the organization will reach Rs 7.58 billion. 

According to the agreement, the name of the cooperative after the merger will be 'National Idol Yamuna Savings and Loans Cooperative Limited'. The cooperatives have agreed that Gyan Bahadur Tamang will be the president of the organization and Kuyang Lama will be the executive head.

After the merger, the share capital of the organization will be Rs 308.1 million, the number of members will be 35, 020 and the number of debtors will be 6,858.

The officials of the cooperatives believe that the merger will improve the institutional governance, reduce operational and other costs and enhance accountability and increase trust among the members.