Cooperative bankers from across the country are catching flights Thursday early morning for Mumbai to meet the newly appointed RBI Governor Mr Shaktikanta Das, a former economic affairs secretary who was named the 25th governor of the Reserve Bank of India. The meeting is scheduled for the evening today.
“I am already settled in the plane which may take off any time now; I cannot talk to you at a greater length” said NAFCUB Chief Executive Subhas Gupta who hurriedly mentioned the issues of Umbrella Organization and seamless opening of UCB branches as the two major issues before the urban cooperative banking sector.
Nafscob Chairman, who was similarly at Ahmadabad Airport catching flight Thursday morning said” I and MD are going together to meet the Governor at 4 pm; there are several issues such as demonetized notes of many co-op banks have still not be accepted by the RBI. My request to the governor is that if these are within the ambit of law, they must be converted forthwith”, Sanghani added.
Flagging the next demand for RBI, Sanghani said a farmer’s son usually approaches DCCBs for loans if he has to go abroad for higher studies. While the govt offers subsidies for commercial banks on student loans the same is not the case with DCCBs and we would request the Governor to correct this anomaly”, Sanghani emphasized. Cooperators connected with co-op banks are assembling at Maharashtra State Co-op Bank headquarters at 1 PM on Thursday to give the final shape to their list of demands, Indian Cooperative has gathered.
RBI Governor Mr Das is meeting representatives of both co-operative banks and urban cooperative banks, primarily to acquaint himself with the issues concerning this sector. The Nafcub team would be headed by its President Jyotindra Mehta and would comprise of Vidyadhar Anaskar, Rambabu Sandlya, among others.
H K Patil, the veteran UCB cooperator would not be part of the delegation as he has been tasked by the Congress High Command to prepare for the Lok Sabha elections. Patil has been named the head of the Campaign Committee of the Congress. Patil, however, wrote a detailed piece earlier advising Das what to avoid for a smooth functioning as RBI governor. The piece was carried both by Deccan Herald and Indian Cooperative.
For Urban Cooperative Banks the issue of setting up of an Umbrella Organization is a top priority. It has been the subject matter of discussions for the last so many years. Even the High Powered Committee on UCBs (R. Gandhi Committee) has recommended having an appropriate Umbrella Organisation for the UCB Sector. RBI, subsequently, advised NAFCUB to furnish its proposal with regard to creation, structure and design of national UO for UCBs. A proposal has since been prepared and submitted to RBI in April this year.
NAFCUB and the entire sector is eagerly awaiting the clearance of the proposal, after receipt of which the registration of an NBFC which will be owned by the sector and which will function as UO will be taken up.
The second major issue is delinking branch licensing to the condition of BoD and BoM. All the applications received from UCBs for opening of branches under Annual Business Plan 2018-19 have been kept pending. The issue has led to a virtual choking of urban cooperative banking growth, echoed several cooperators.