Leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis and Pravin Darekar will soon meet the RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das to urge lifting of curbs put on state and district central cooperative banks.
They will even seek lifting of restrictions on Mumbai District Central Co-operative Bank to finance self redevelopment projects as they fall under “commercial real estate” category.
Parliament in September passed amendments to the Banking Regulation Act to bring cooperative banks under the supervision of the RBI, a move aimed at protecting the interest of depositors.
The Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2020, which replaced an ordinance that was promulgated on June 26, was passed by a voice vote in the Rajya Sabha. The amendment had received approval from the Lok Sabha on September 16.
The bill, which came in the backdrop of the PMC Bank scam, sought to strengthen cooperative banks by increasing their professionalism, enabling access to capital, improving governance and ensuring sound banking through the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
There are 1,482 urban cooperative banks and 58 multi-state cooperative banks having about 8.6 crore depositors with total savings deposit of about Rs 4.85 lakh crore.
The decision assumes significance in the wake of scams in cooperative banks, including the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank, affecting lakhs of customers who are facing difficulty in withdrawing their money due to restrictions imposed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
The RBI had placed regulatory curbs on PMC Bank on September 23, 2019, after finding out certain financial irregularities and misreporting of loans given to real estate developer HDIL.
(With inputs from agencies)
