At the 49th Annual General Meeting of NAFCUB, Anil Kumar Singh, delegate from Gulshan Mercantile Cooperative Bank, urged the apex body to actively take up issues faced by smaller Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs).
He requested NAFCUB to write to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to expedite the pending applications of UCBs seeking approval for digital payment services.
Singh highlighted that smaller UCBs like his are often left waiting indefinitely for clearances, which affects their ability to compete with larger banks. “There are many problems which small UCBs are facing, but no concrete steps have been taken. Even in NAFCUB, discussions have happened but no mechanism has been put in place to study and resolve the problems of smaller banks,” he said, stressing the need for a structured approach to address such issues.
He further pointed out that his bank had applied for an NPCI certificate to launch UPI-based payment services nearly a year ago but has yet to receive approval. “For other banks, particularly commercial and private sector banks, NPCI clears applications quickly. But in the case of cooperative banks, the process is unnecessarily delayed,” Singh remarked.
He appealed to NAFCUB to take up this matter urgently, as the absence of modern payment services like UPI puts smaller UCBs at a competitive disadvantage and limits their ability to serve younger, tech-savvy customers.