The Pioneer Urban Co-operative Bank Ltd., Belgaum, Karnataka - Penalised

The Reserve Bank of India has imposed a monetary penalty of ` 5.00 lakh (Rupees five lakh only) on The Pioneer Urban Co-operative Bank Ltd., Belgaum, Karnataka, in exercise of powers vested in it under the provisions of Section 47A(1)(b) read with Section 46(4) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (AACS) for violating the Reserve Bank's instructions for sanctioning loan to a company in which a director of the Bank is interested and suppressing such information by not reporting it in the relevant quarterly statement proforma I & II submitted to the Reserve Bank of India.
The Reserve Bank of India had issued a show cause notice to the bank, in response to which the bank submitted a written reply. After considering the facts of the case, bank's reply and personal submissions in the matter, the Reserve Bank came to the conclusion that the violations were substantiated and warranted imposition of the penalty.

courtesy / source : www.moneycontrol.com

Workshops on central bank rules for bankers

AHMEDABAD: The number of co-op banks in Gujarat being penalized for flouting norms has left bank trustees and directors on shaky ground. Gujarat Urban Co-operative Banks Federation (GUCBF) has now started conducting workshops and seminars in various parts of the state to educate bank officials about RBI guidelines and various banking norms.
Veterans in the industry believe that ignorance among bank officials is costing the cooperative bank sector in the state dear. RBI issued notices to 36 banks in the state and penalized them for lapses in implementing customer identification norms and various other violations.
GUCBF has already conducted five seminars in place like Ahmedabad, Mehsana and Godhra for co-operative bank officials. "We have submitted a memorandum to RBI stating the erring banks have found themselves on the wrong side of regulations due to ignorance of various guidelines. To iron out the problem we have are conducting workshops and seminars, where RBI officials educate bank employees about different banking norms," saids GUCBF chairman Jyotindra Mehta.

courtesy / source : www.times of india

The Mehsana Urban Co-operative Bank Ltd. - Penalised

The Reserve Bank of India has imposed a monetary penalty of ` 1.00 lakh (Rupees one lakh only) on The Mehsana Urban Co-operative Bank Ltd., Mehsana, in exercise of powers vested in it under the provisions of Section 47(A)(1)(b) read with Section 46(4) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (AACS) for violation of Reserve Bank of India directives/guidelines relating to admission of co-operative societies as nominal members in violation of provisions of Section 5(ccv) of B.R.Act, 1949 (AACS), bank's exposure to real estate beyond the permissible limit, violation of Know Your Customer (KYC) norms and violation of Section 20 A of the B.R.Act 1949 (AACS) in respect of waiving of interest on a director related advance.

The Reserve Bank of India had issued a show cause notice to the bank in response to which the bank submitted a written reply. After considering the facts of the case and the bank's reply as also personal submissions in the matter, the Reserve Bank of India came to the conclusion that the violations were substantiated and warranted imposition of the penalty.

source / courtesy : www.moneycontrol.com

RBI penalises two Gujarat-based cooperative banks

MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank has imposed a penalty of up to Rs 1 lakh each on two Gujarat-based cooperative sector lenders -- Dahod Urban Co-operative Bank Limited and Pragati Sahakari Bank Limited -- for violation of its guidelines.
In case of Dagod Urban Co-operative Bank, the RBI has imposed the fine for giving donations beyond the permissible limit. It was also found violating the Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering guidelines.
In case of the Pragati Sahakari Bank Limited, the RBI imposed the fine on the cooperative bank for violation of cash transactions reporting norms.

Sorce / Courtesy : The Economic Times

Janata Sahakari to apply for multi-state operations license

Mumbai, Jul 7 (PTI) Pune-based Janata Sahakari Bank will soon be applying for a multi-state operations license and plans to open up to five branches in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Goa before end March 2012. "We will be seeking the permission in 3-4 months from Reserve Bank with a request to open branches in Nipani, Vapi, Belgaum and Indore," the co-operative bank's Chairman Arvind Khadilkar said. Presently, the bank operates 37 branches across Maharashtra and plans to add up to six more within the state by end FY 12, he said. The bank, which is now the fifth largest urban cooperative bank with a balance sheet size of Rs 5,700 crore, has come a long way and ended in the black for the first time last fiscal. It has had a tumultuous past wherein certain business decisions took it towards the brink of collapse in 2003 when the net non performing assets stood at a staggering 28.18 per cent, but it has been resurrected now, the Chairman added. Its Chief Executive V P Bhave said the bank is targeting to grow on all its key indicators this year and is targeting a zero net NPA this fiscal as compared to last fiscal's 0.43 per cent. The bank is targeting to grow the balance sheet size by around 23 per cent to Rs 7,000 in FY 12, he said. It is targeting the profit to increase to Rs 50 crore from FY 11's Rs 27.85 crore and the capital adequacy to increase to over 11 per cent from the present 10.70 per cent, Bhave said.

courtesy / source : www.ibnlive.com, PTI

Tagore and the idea of Cooperation

“Today, economic power has been captured by a small minority. But it has acquired this power only by accumulating the productive power of others. Their capital is simply the accumulated labour of a millions of working people, in a monetized form. It is this productive power that is the real capital, and it is this power that latently resides in every worker ...” — Samabayaniti/The Co-operative Principles, 1928. 

In a compelling set of essays written between 1915 and 1940, Rabindranath Tagore articulated a social vision where exploitation would give way to a just, humane, collectively owned economy. At the core of his thought was the cooperative principle. This is an idea worth revisiting on the International Day of Cooperatives, which this year falls on July 2, and even more so during the lead-up to 2012, which is the United Nations International Year of Cooperatives.

Why cooperatives again? Have they not been tried — and have failed? Well, so have big banks and large corporations. Yet they continue undiminished. The reason they do so with such impunity is that alternatives are hard to come by. With the financial crisis on the one hand, and the (predictable) collapse of the system of microcredit on the other, the need to identify alternative forms of ownership is greater than ever before.

In India, the experience with the century-old cooperative

RuPay plans to be a full-fledged service provider

The country’s first domestic payment card network, RuPay, plans to extend its services beyond automated teller machines (ATMs) and micro ATMs by December.
It expects to match the likes of existing payment facilitators such as Visa and Mastercard and provide services such as debit, prepaid and credit card which will be accepted in India and abroad across various channels such as points of sale, Internet, interactive voice response and mobile.
Says A.P. Hota, chief executive officer and managing director, National Payment Corp. of India Ltd (NPCIL) which

Vizag Co-op Bank crosses Rs 1000 cr deposit mark

Visakhapatnam Cooperative Bank has crossed the Rs 1,000-mark in deposits, according to its chairman.
“Though we have branches in six districts, about Rs 940 crore deposits were mobilised from Visakhapatnam district only,” Manam Anjaneyulu told mediapersons here today. The bank spent about 83 years to mobilise its first Rs 100 crore deposits, and then took only 12 years to collect another Rs 900 crore.
With this, VCB has become the biggest cooperative bank in the entire South India in the category of scheduled and non scheduled cooperative urban banks, he said.
As on July 1, 2011, the bank’s total business stood at Rs 1,785 crore (Rs 1,014 crore deposits and Rs 771 crore advances). “Our aim is to enhance it to Rs 3,000 crore by 2016, which is our centenary year,” he added.
VCB operates 19 branches and plans to add another six this fiscal.

Courtesy / Source : the business standard