Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on March 2 inaugurated an umbrella organisation for urban cooperative banks (UCB) — the National Urban Cooperative Finance and Development Corporation Limited (NUCFDC).
Mr. Shah stated that the organisation was a necessity of the time, and marked a new beginning for self-regulation, which would manifold increase the development of UCBs in the country. “It is necessary that we upgrade ourselves and adhere to all the regulations of the Reserve Bank of India. If we fail to do so, we will not be able to sustain the competition in the times to come,” Mr. Shah said.
He highlighted a major role for the umbrella organisation, which is to prepare small banks for compliance with the Banking Regulation Act. “Our goal should be to open urban cooperative banks in every city,” Mr. Shah said.
The Cooperation Minister said that the organisation had a collective strength of 11,000 branches with 1,500 banks, deposits of ₹5 lakh crore and loans totalling ₹3.50 lakh crore. He added that the UCBs in the country had reduced their net non-performing assets (NPA) to 2.10% and there was a need for further improvement.
