Cabinet decides to bring all Cooperative Banks under RBI

Information and Broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar during a virtual press conference on Wednesday said that the Union Cabinet has decided to bring all co-operative banks under the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) through an ordinance.

"Depositors' money amounting to ₹4.84 lakh crore in the cooperatives banks will stay safe," the Minister said while announcing the decision.

“About 1,482 urban cooperative banks and 58 multi-state cooperative banks will be brought under the supervision of the RBI with immediate effect from the date of President’s approval on the ordinance, thereby giving an assurance to the 8.6 crore depositors in these banks that their money is safe”, Prakash Javadekar tweeted in Hindi. 

After the Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) bank fiasco last year, the Union Cabinet in February approved amendments to the Banking Regulation Act to strengthen the cooperative banks in the country.

During her budget speech in the parliament, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced that cooperative banks will be brought under the ambit of the RBI.