Q.Define a credit co-operative society and state any four of its features.

A credit co-operative society is the small person's own source of cheap credit, built by pooling members' savings.

Definition. A credit co-operative society is a voluntary association of persons of small and moderate means, registered under the co-operative law (in Maharashtra, the Maharashtra Co-operative Societies Act, 1960), which pools the savings of its members and, out of that common fund, provides loans to them at a reasonable rate of interest. Its guiding idea is self-help through mutual help, and its aim is to free members from the moneylender and to encourage thrift rather than to earn profit.

Four features:

1. Voluntary and open membership — Any competent person of small means who accepts the rules may join freely, and a member may leave after due notice; there is no compulsion or discrimination.
2. Capital from members — The working capital comes chiefly from members' shares, entrance fees and deposits, supplemented where necessary by higher co-operative banks and government help.
3. Service, not profit, as the motive — The society exists to serve members with cheap credit and to promote saving; any surplus is used for members' benefit and reserves. …

Students often write only the definition and forget to list the required number of features, or list general co-operative features without connecting them to cr …