Fulfilling its promise of appointing a nodal officer for all policy issues related to Urban Co-operative Banks, the Reserve Bank of India has appointed a Chief General Manager rank officer, according to a press release issued on Thursday on May 25.
Mrs Scenta Joy, Chief General Manager of Department of Regulation, RBI has been appointed for the post. The apex bank has also notified her email and phone number for UCBs’ representatives.
When Indian Cooperative contacted Ms Scenta Joy to seek her reaction on her appointment as a nodal officer for UCBs, her team informed that she was currently busy in a meeting and could be contacted later.
“The Chief General Manager will act as a nodal point for coordinating all policy related references from the UCB sector / federations. Individual bank related matters will continue to be dealt with under the existing mechanism”, reads an RBI release.
It bears recalling that the Governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had held a meeting with the National Federation of Urban Co-operative Banks and Credit Societies Limited (NAFCUB), Federations of UCBs from certain states and the CEOs of select UCBs on May 12, 2023.
As indicated in the meeting, and with a view to bringing about closer coordination and focused interaction with the federations in respect of policy/ regulatory issues concerning the UCB sector, it has been decided to designate the Chief General Manager, Department of Regulation as a nodal point of contact to interface with the UCBs and other concerned entities on sector level matters.
Among others, the meeting was attended by RBI Central Board Director Satish Marathe and Nafcub President Jyotindra Mehta. From the RBI side, the meeting was attended by M Rajeshwar Rao, Deputy Governor and a few Executive Directors.
Two major outcomes of the meeting include–RBI will nominate a senior officer who will be the single point of contact for all issues related to UCBs and the Standing Advisory Committee (SAC) meetings will henceforth be held once in six months instead of once in a year.
It was in this meeting that the Governor, Reserve Bank of India acknowledged the important role played by UCBs in furthering financial inclusion and supporting economic growth by providing banking services at the grassroots level. He had stated that RBI is committed to having a strong, robust and resilient UCB sector and for that there is a need for all the stakeholders to work together in the spirit of cooperation.