Q.The members of the Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank are mainly the:

Being the apex bank, the MSC Bank does not deal directly with the farmer; its members are the institutions just below it.

As a federal, apex body it works through the district banks, which are its members.

The Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank is a federal apex body — a federation of the district banks. It ordinarily does not deal directly with the individual farmer or the village society; it works through the district central banks.

Option-by-option analysis:

• (a) Individual farmers — Wrong. Farmers are members of the primary village societies, at the base of the pyramid.
• (b) District Central Co-operative Banks — Correct. The DCCBs, together with some other large co-operative institutions, are the members of the apex bank.
• (c) Primary Agricultural Credit Societies — Wrong. The primary societies are members of the district central bank, not of the apex bank.
• (d) General public — Wrong. Unlike an urban co-operative bank, the apex bank's membership is of institutions, not the public.

Do not assume every co-operative bank has individual members. The apex bank is a federation whose members are the district banks; the individual farmer's membership is at the base society.