Kathmandu. As many as 1,600 cooperatives are in the process of being registered with the National Cooperative Regulatory Authority.

With the objective of making the cooperative sector systematic, transparent and credible, the NRA is going to bring the cooperatives operating savings and credit as the main transaction across the country into the process of registration.

Out of these cooperatives that have applied online for registration, the NRA has issued licenses to about 3,000 cooperatives and the remaining 8,000 cooperatives are in the process of verifying the license details and studying the documents that are inadequate.

The government had formed the NRA a year ago after the lack of regulation, monitoring and supervision in cooperatives put depositors’ money at risk. NRA Chair Dr Khagaraj Sharma said that the documentation of cooperatives at federal, state and local levels has been started. Cooperatives, however, have not shown much interest in registration.

According to NEA Managing Director Keshav Raj Bhattarai, all cooperatives across the country will be allowed to operate only after getting registered with the NEA. There are 3,646 cooperatives that have submitted their details to the NRA for obtaining the license but do not have the documents.

In order to make the regulation of cooperatives more effective, the NRA has signed a memorandum of understanding for collaboration with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nepal. The organization will assist in the examination of the cooperative’s business and financial condition.