RBI signs MoU with Bihar on urban cooperative banks
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Bihar Government have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on urban cooperative banks (UCBs) in the state.Consequent to the agreement, a State level Task Force on Urban Co-operative Banks (TAFCUB) has been constituted for Bihar.
Mr K K Vohra, Regional Director for Bihar and Jharkhand, RBI, is the Chairman of the TAFCUB and Mr Narsingh Upadhyay, Registrar of Co-operative Societies, Government of Bihar is its co-Chairman. The other members of the TAFCUB include a representative each from the National Federation for Urban Co-operative Banks (NAFCUB), State Urban Banks Federation, a nominee of the Bihar Government and a representative from Urban Banks Department, RBI.
It said similar MoUs had earlier been signed with the Governments of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttaranchal, Chattisgarh, Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram, Manipur, Assam, Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Puduchery, Delhi, Haryana, West Bengal, Tripura, Punjab, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Jammu & Kashmir as also the Central Government. All the UCBs in the country are now covered under MoU.
As part of its developmental role, the RBI would also be assessing the training and computerization needs of the UCBs in Bihar with the objective of upgrading their human resources skills and technological infrastructure so that they improve their operational efficiency and quality of management information systems.
The RBI had, in its Mid-Term Review of Annual Policy announced in October 2004, announced that a vision document for UCBs would be prepared.
Accordingly, the central bank placed in the public domain a draft vision document in March 2005.As the Urban Co-operative Banks are subject to dual control by the Reserve Bank and the State Governments, the vision document envisaged the signing of MoU between State Governments and the Reserve Bank of India to put in place an arrangement through which there is convergence on the approach and remedial actions required to be taken for facilitating the development of the sector.
The vision document also proposed the constitution of a State Level Task Force of Urban Co-operative Banks with representatives of State Government, State/National Federation of Urban Cooperative Banks and the Reserve Bank of India as its members, for the purpose of identifying the potentially viable urban co-operative banks and drawing up a time-bound action plan for their revival by setting specific monitorable milestones.