NAFSCOB the apex body of state cooperative banks in the country held its Board meeting in Mumbai last week. The meeting was presided over by Dileepbhai Sanghani.
Talking to this correspondent Sanghani said ”the amount of Specified Bank Notes (SBN) accumulated at District Central Cooperative Banks in states is estimated to be around 7 to 8 thousand crore – an issue that dominated the board meeting”.
Readers would recall that DCCBs are not allowed to accept SBNs as deposits from their customers and also not authorized to exchange the SBNs. Prior to the RBI notification , the DCCBs participated in the scheme and received a good number of SBNs as exchange and also as deposits from 10 to 14 November, 2016.
Earlier on behalf of NAFSCOB, Chairman Dileepbhai Sanghani had written a letter to RBI governor Dr.Urjit Patel to allow District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) to deposit on or before 31st March 2017 but till date RBI has not acted on this issue, said Sanghani with a tinge of sadness.
At the time of Demonetization NAFSCOB President Dileepbhai Sanghani met PM Narendra Modi in his Parliament office and urged him to direct RBI to revise its decision of not allowing DCCBs the exchange facilities for demonetized currencies.
There are 371 district central cooperative banks with deposits of Rs 44,000 crore and a mere 31 DCCBs based in Maharashtra had, secured Rs 4,600 crore as deposits. DCCBs are an important source of agricultural credit for farmers in the country.