In a move which may lead to a paradigm shift for the urban cooperative banking sector, Maharashtra UCB Federation has mooted the idea of ending RBI control over UCBs and replacing it with NABARD instead.
Interestingly, the idea has been supported whole-heartedly by none other than Union Minister and a strong BJP man Nitin Gadkari during the course of a webinar in which Gadkari was participating with Maharashtra UCB Federation Chief Vidyadhar Anaskar, among others.
Available on YouTube with the limitation of language (Marathi) the debate started with the subject of dual control over urban cooperative banks as Anaskar raised the issue with Gadkari and sought his view.
“Gadkari was on the same page as he felt that every change in govt leads to uncertainty among cooperative leadership and a permanent solution must be sought for the benefit of the sector”, explained Anaskar who translated Marathi for the benefit of Indian Cooperative readers.
“I was overwhelmed to see the Minister’s positive reaction when I suggested that urban cooperative banks would find it much easier to deal with Nabard than with RBI”. With co-op banks and thousands of PACCs under its control, Nabard knows the nuances of co-operative banking much better than RBI, explained Anaskar later to Indian Cooperative.
“When I compared the UCBs score on financial parameters with that of commercial banks, Gadkariji was quite appreciative of our performance. Be it net NPA, gross NPA or Provisioning ratio, we are better placed than the commercial banks”, underlined Anaskar.
So impressed was the Minister that he asked us to make a note on the issue and promised to take up the matter with everyone including RBI Governor, Finance Minister and if the need be with the Prime Minister”, disclosed Anaskar who also heads the MSCB’s administrative board and who is credited with many firsts including the concept of loan up to Rs 10 lakh to farmers in 5 minutes through an online application.
“We would send the detail of the proposal aimed at UCBs coming under the aegis of Nabard as soon it is ready to Indian Cooperative. We have decided to have a second meeting on the issue in which along with Nitin Gadkari, Sharad Pawar would also participate. We would first fine tune the idea before taking it at the next level”, disclosed Anaskar.
Lauding the cooperative culture of Nabard, Anaskar said that their exposure to co-operative encompasses grassroots levels, unthinkable for RBI. “We are at the same wavelength with them (Nabard)”, he added.
Explaining Maharashtra’s clout in the cooperative sector Anaskar said that 60% of UCBs are located in the state with more than Rs 2.93 hundred lakh crore in their deposits. We look forward to beginning a glorious chapter for the sector in the state, he concluded.
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