Union Ministry of Cooperation Secretary Ashish Bhutani chaired a review meeting on the progress of the Umbrella Organization for Urban Cooperative Banks on Monday. On this occasion, Bhutani took the stock of progress on the UO and assured to give unwavering support for its proper implementation.
From the ministry side, Additional Secretary Pankaj Kumar Bansal and others were present whereas Jyotindra Mehta, D Krishna, Atul Khirwadkar and others representing NUCFDC, aka the Umbrella Organization for UCBs, were connected virtually.
One of the participants who is also the CEO of the NUCFDC, Atul Khirwadkar informed in the meeting that so far a capital of Rs 118 crore towards the UO has been collected from 141 cooperative banks. It bears recalling that NUCFDC has set a target to collect more than Rs 300 crore from the majority of urban cooperative banks till September this year.
Atul Khirwadkar emphasized the importance of the strategy NUCFDC will adopt for the engagement of all urban cooperative banks. “We will organize a series of meetings with the associations, federations as well as with the representatives of bigger banks, which are yet to contribute towards UO”, said another participant of the meeting.
It is being said that NUCFDC is facing hiccups in getting contributions from many UCBs towards the UO and its team is working day and night to convince the fence sitters to come forward.
Highlighting the latest updates on the UO, Khirwardkar said, “In a bid to become a financial company, we are also set to make investment towards the government securities. We will invest around Rs 60 crore before 15th May 2024. With this many new things including making a common insurance platform, technology support to UCBs and others will take the shape” he informed.
It bears recall that RBI is also taking keen interest in the successful implementation of UO. Recently, in one of the first meetings related to UO called in Mumbai, RBI governor Shaktikanta Das and other RBI officials took stock of the situation from the NUCFDC representatives.
Earlier, last month the Cooperation Ministry had called for a virtual meeting with stakeholders of NUCFDC to assess the progress of the organization. It bears recalling that NUCFDC has already received the Certificate of Registration (COR) from the RBI and it has begun commencing activities post-registration.
NUCFDC aspires to attain full operational capacity within six months, actively supporting and empowering the urban cooperative banking sector. Besides, NUCFDC is exploring business avenues, such as serving as an Aadhar Authentication Agency and establishing itself as a reputable Rating Agency.
