Government of India
Ministry of Cooperation
Removal of difficulties faced by Urban Cooperative Banks
There are about 1, 514 Urban Cooperative Banks in the country which play a very important role in the development of the cooperative sector. These banks were facing many difficulties over the years.
Under the direction of the Hon’ble Home and Cooperation Minister, the Ministry has taken persistent efforts to remove the difficulties being faced by Urban Cooperative Banks.
As a result, RBI has taken the following steps to strengthen Urban Co-operative Banks:
1. UCBs can open their new branches.
[RBI Circular No. RBI/2023-24/39 DOR.REG.No. 19/07.01.000/2023-24 Date: June 08, 2023]
2. Board of UCBs have been empowered now like Commercial Banks for formulation of Settlement policy / OTS. [ RBI Circular RBI/ 2023-24/40 DOR.STR.REC. 20/21.04.048/2023-24 June 08 , 2023]
3. A Nodal Officer for Urban Cooperative Banks has been nominated by RBI as a single point of contact. [RBI Press Release: 2023-2024/282 dated 25 May 2023]
4. Additional timeframe of two years has been given to Urban Cooperative Banks to achieve Priority Sector Lending (PSL) targets. [RBI Circular no. RBI/ 2023-24/42 DOR.CRE.REC. 18/07.10.002/2023-24 ; Date: June 8 , 2023]
5. RBI has prescribed time line of 90 days for granting approval regarding Appointment/ reappointment/ dismissal of Chairman, Managing Director, CEO, etc. And a time line of 30 days has been fixed for the appointment/re-appointment/dismissal of the Auditors . [RBI internal timeline]
6. Urban cooperative banks have been permitted to provide door-step banking services to their customers. [RBI circular no. RBI/2022-23/66 DOR.REG.No. 45/19.51.052/2022-23, dated June 8, 2022]
7. Individual housing loan limits for Urban Cooperative Banks have also been more than doubled . [RBI/2022-2023/68 DOR.CRE.REC.42/09.22.010/2022-23 dated June 8, 2022]
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