UCB leaders meet FM in Mumbai; raises issues of housing loan limit

The delegations from the Maharashtra based TJSB Sahakari Bank, Dombivli Nagari Sahakari Bank and Janakalyan Sahakari Bank paid a call on the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Mumbai on Monday and discussed issues pertaining to the cooperative sector.

On this occasion, TJSB Sahakari Bank Vice-Chairman Vaibhav Singavi, MD & CEO Sunil Sathe, DNS Bank Chairman Adv Ganesh Dhargalkar, Janakalyan Sahakari Bank Chairman Santosh Vasant Kelkar and others were present.

Soon after the meeting, the official twitter handle of Nirmala Sitharaman wrote, “Delegations from TJSB Sahakari Bank Ltd, @DnsBank and Janakalyan Sahakari Bank Ltd, call on Smt @nsitharaman in Mumbai”.

Later on, talking to the Indian Cooperative correspondent, Janakalyan Sahakari Bank Chairman Santosh Vasant Kelkar said, “The various challenges confronting the cooperative banking sector were discussed with the Union Finance Minister. She listened to our issues very patiently and assured us of her help to resolve them sooner than later”.

“We submitted the list of demands to the Union finance Minister in the meeting that lasted around 45 minutes. We raised the issue related to the housing loan limit for UCBs’ ‘, he informed us on the phone.

Janakalyan Sahakari Bank Chairman said, “The housing loan limit for UCBs has been increased from Rs 70 lakh per beneficiary per dwelling unit to Rs 1.40 crore. While doing so the existing cap on the housing loans i.e. 10 percent of total assets towards housing, real estate, and CRE with an additional limit of 5 percent for the purpose of grant of housing loans to individuals up to Rs 35 lakh is not increased. So, in effect, total opportunity remains unchanged”, he asserted.

Besides, the tenure of directorship is restricted to 8 years with immediate effect from 2020, and earlier tenure is also counted. This should be made applicable from the last election held after the amendment came into effect, Kelkar said.

Kelkar further added that the appointment of Khirwadkar as CEO of the NCFDC is a welcome move. He added “Since it is envisaged that the organization will be setting up an IT infrastructure for use of UCBs, we feel that this should be taken up on priority especially when tightened norms are being prescribed for cyber security for UCBs.”