Many of the delegates who came to attend the 47th Annual General Meeting of the apex body of UCBs-Nafcub have reacted positively to the recent development in the cooperative banking sector, whereas a few listed issues which should be resolved at the earliest.
The meeting was held on Saturday at the NCUI Auditorium and more than 200 delegates representing different UCBs and Credit Societies attended it.
Municipal Cooperative Bank Director Varsha A. Mali said that RBI should extend the housing loan limit from existing Rs 60 lakh. “We are facing a lot of challenges in disbursing heavy loans. In Maharashtra the rate of single flats is more than Rs 1 crore due to which we fail to entertain big borrowers”, she griped.
Karnataka based Chaitanya Mahila Sahakari Bank founder president Mallamma S Yalawar raised many issues which included ease of norms for adopting technology, insurance & pension fund for all the cooperative bank employees, Nabard schemes should also be made available to cooperative banks, he suggested.
Rajasthan State Urban Cooperative Banks Federation Chairman Mohan Parashar said that the Nafcub should help in getting permission from RBI to install the off-site ATMs. “There should be uniformity between the provisions of the MSCS Act as well as state cooperative acts. The income tax levied on UCBs should come down from 22 percent to 15 percent”, he said.
Andhra Pradesh State Cooperative Urban Banks and Credit Societies Federation Secretary Ch. Raghavendra Rao said there is a need for an Independent Ombudsman to whom UCBs may turn without fear of retribution for an impartial assessment.
He further added, there is a need for an appellate authority who will do an independent assessment on the need for, and the quantum of punishment. Rao raised many issues including expanding UCBs network in rural areas, unresponsive attitude of RBI, non-implementation of standing advisory committee decisions etc.
A representative from Tamil Nadu Urban Cooperative Banks Federation has asked the Nafcub team for inclusion of more new members. “As there are 120 urban cooperative banks in Tamil Nadu out of which only 44 are the members of the Nafcub. It should be increased. In TN, there are 86 banks which are 100 years old”, she said.
The delegate from Himachal Pradesh based CD Cooperative Credit Society, Kamal Chand Rana said, “We have been working for 23 years and we want to convert ourselves into an Urban Cooperative Bank. In this connection, Nafcub should lead from the front in helping is getting us a banking license”.
On this occasion, the delegates also lauded the role of Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah in resolving the long pending issues of UCBs and hoped that under his leadership the other pending issues will also be resolved.