Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah said Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) must move beyond the earlier environment of mutual mistrust and work through greater trust and transparency.
Referring to his five years as Cooperation Minister, Shah said his experience showed that whenever the cooperative sector approached the RBI with trust and transparency, the central bank responded with proactive support. He cited the establishment of the Umbrella Organisation for UCBs as the biggest example of such cooperation.
Shah also highlighted recent reforms aimed at easing the functioning and expansion of UCBs. He said UCBs, which had faced restrictions on opening new branches for years, can now expand their branch network by up to 15% without separate RBI approval.
He said doorstep banking facilities have also been extended to UCBs, including services such as demand drafts and life certificates, which were earlier unavailable to non-scheduled UCBs.
Shah further said the process for eligible Tier-3 UCBs to obtain scheduled-bank status by being included in the Second Schedule to the RBI Act has also been simplified.
