Offering a major relief to the depositors of urban co-operative banks, among others, the Upper House of Parliament passed the DICGC Amendment bill amidst opposition ruckus on Wednesday.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the bill would help small depositors, including those of 23 stressed co-op banks. She also named a few banks including PMC Bank in her speech in the House.
Hailing the passage of the bill, Sahakar Bharati leader Satish Marathe said “It’s a big day for both UCBs and their depositors. Your money up to Rs 5 lac is safe now”. Earlier, Marathe had argued hard that the introduction of the condition of “Moratorium” in the bill is not going to help banks.
“There is no UCB bank which is under moratorium but many of them are indeed under Direction or under reconstruction/liquidation. If the govt intention is to help the small depositors this condition must be done away with”, argued Sahakar Bharati.
Just prior to its passage on Wednesday, Sahakar Bharati had written a letter to the Union Finance Minister, requesting her to ensure UCBs figure in the list of beneficiaries. Not content, Sahakar Bharati has also written letters to the Members of Parliament including Dr Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, Tejasvi Surya and Dr Bhagwat Karad, Minister of State.
The Bill seeks to insert a new Section in the DICGC Act, 1961, enabling small depositors to take out money. The bill also seeks to amend Section 15 of the DICGC Act to enable the Corporation to increase the ceiling on the amount of premium, with the prior approval of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
It is hoped that Depositors of all those Urban Co-op Banks (eg Pen Urban Co-op Bank Ltd, Rupee Bank Ltd from Maharashtra, Guru Raghavendra Co-op Bank Ltd from Karnataka, etc ) – which are under RBI Directions for several years – will also be covered as a consequence of the proposed Amendment. Some of the Urban Co-op Banks have been under RBI Directions for over 7 to 9 years.
The latest in the series of beleaguered UCBs is PMC Bank. The Minister named it and confirmed that the depositors are going to be benefitted by the amendment. The amendment is likely to be passed smoothly in the Lok Sabha in this monsoon session as it has a majority in the Lower House.
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When the Pen Urban Cooperative Bank- Raigad District Maharashtra case will be solved? This case is pending for more than 10 years. Please look into this. Depositors are fighting to get their hard earned money back but there are no firm steps taken by the government.