Union Minister of State for Cooperation Murlidhar Mohol chaired a high-level meeting in Pune on Tuesday with senior representatives from selected Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs).
The meeting, organized by the National Urban Cooperative Finance and Development Corporation (NUCFDC), focused on enhancing the cooperative banking ecosystem and expanding participation among UCBs, especially smaller institutions.
Mohol urged all UCBs to join hands with NUCFDC, which is acting as an umbrella organization for the sector. He emphasized that, under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah, NUCFDC is taking strategic steps to strengthen urban cooperative banking across India.
Speaking to Indian Cooperative correspondent, NUCFDC President Jyotindra Mehta described the meeting as fruitful and conducted in a highly positive atmosphere. He noted that the discussions covered both the present status and the future roadmap of NUCFDC in considerable detail.
Mehta emphasized the importance of expanding NUCFDC’s membership base by bringing smaller urban cooperative banks into the fold. This, he said, is essential to promoting inclusivity and fostering a sense of unity within the cooperative banking sector. While participation from most states has been encouraging, efforts continue to engage banks from the northeastern states, including Sikkim, Nagaland, and Manipur.
During the meeting, the NUCFDC team highlighted that it will offer a 100% compliance-focused product aimed at helping cooperative banks seamlessly meet regulatory requirements. This initiative is part of NUCFDC’s broader strategy to enhance operational efficiency and ensure adherence to statutory norms.
A significant portion of the discussion was also dedicated to the development of a Common Core Banking Solution (CBS) for cooperative banks. This CBS, to be implemented in collaboration with NABARD, will streamline banking operations across the sector. Requests for Proposals (RFPs) have already been issued, and tenders are being invited from potential vendors to take the project forward.
Additionally, the meeting proved fruitful as India’s largest urban cooperative bank Saraswat Cooperative Bank—also the highest contributor to NUCFDC—announced an additional contribution of Rs 8 crore towards the share capital of NUCFDC, further strengthening the organization’s financial foundation.
The session lasted over two and a half hours and was attended by prominent figures in the cooperative banking sector, including Satish Marathe, Deepak Taware (IAS), Smt. Aarti Patil, Adv. Pralhad Kokare, Vaibhav Sanghavi, Subhash Mohite, Shirish Deshpande, Prabhat Chaturvedi, and others.
The meeting was seen as a significant step toward building a more integrated and resilient cooperative banking network across India, with Maharashtra at the forefront of this transformation.
