RBI's Rs 1-lakh penalty on Madheshwari Urban Dev Co-op Bank

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), today imposed a penalty of Rs 1-lakh on Maharashtra based Madheshwari Urban Development Co-operative Bank following violations of its directives, the apex bank said in a press release issued here.

According to RBI, the co-operative bank''s total unsecured advances exceeded the permissible limit of 15% of its net demand and time liabilities (NDTL).

Besides, it had also sanctioned unsecured advances (salary loans) beyond the prescribed ceiling of Rs 1-lakh.

It had also granted unsecured advances to Vithalrao Shinde Sahkari Sakhar Karkhana Maryadit whose Chairman and Chairman of the bank was the same person, the apex bank said.

All these acts were in violation of RBI directives, the release said.

A show cause notice had been issued 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 in the matter, the Reserve Bank came to the conclusion that the violations were substantiated and warranted imposition of the penalty," the release said.

No IT returns for salaried people with income below Rs. 5 lakh

NEW DELHI: In a big relief to the taxpayer and in a bid to reduce the workload of the income tax officials, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday proposed exemption from filing tax returns to those earning up to Rs. 5 lakh unless they had other sources of income.

The government will be issuing a notification in this regard, said the Memorandum to the Finance Bill 2011. The decision will come into effect from June 1, 2011, it added.

Salaried taxpayers who do not have other sources of income and whose incomes are subject to Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) will be excluded from

Income tax should be removed: Urban Coop Banks

With the arrival of budget season round the corner, activities to fight for the removal of Income Tax on cooperatives have gathered momentum. A delegation of Urban Cooperative banks met Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukerjee on Wednesday (23/02/2011) to demand for removal of IT on urban cooperative banks.

Readers may be aware that income tax was imposed on cooperatives in the year 2006 and it continues since then.

Urban banks have argued that since its area of operation involves vulnerable section of population where the risk is high, it should be exempted from IT net. We tread a path where private commercial banks fear to go and it not only banking but a kind of social service,they argue.

According to reliable sources, Pranab Mukerjee has assured

Urban Cooperative Bank delegation demands I-T scrap

New Delhi, Feb 23 (PTI) A delegation representing urban cooperative banks today met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and demanded that the government should not impose income tax on such institutions, enabling them to improve their financial status.

The delegation of Forum of Urban Cooperative Banks led by Basudev Acharia (CPI-M) and its convenor C V Kumar met Mukherjee in Parliament House and demanded to scrap the Income Tax imposed on such banks.

The delegation also requested that effective tax rates on cooperative banks be reduced.

"The Finance Minister sought some clarifications from us and assured that our concerns would either be addressed in the current budget or when the Direct Tax Code becomes effective," Kumar told PTI.

The delegation said the Finance Minister gave them a patient hearing and appeared positive to their demands.

Courtesy : yahoo.finance

Two co-operative banks face penalty from RBI

Mumbai: Two cooperative sector lenders -- Surat Mercantile Co-operative Bank and Urban Co-operative Bank, Cuttack were fined by the Reserve Bank with a penalty of 5 lakh due to the reason being violation of certain banking norms.

"The RBI has imposed a monetary penalty of 5 lakh on the Surat Mercantile Co-operative Bank for violation of RBI instructions on disposal of non-banking assets, donations and purchasing of cheques," the apex bank said in a statement.

Urban Co-operative Bank, Cuttack has faced the penalty only upto 1 lakh for violation of instructions relating to opening of collection counters without prior approval RBI.

"After considering the facts of the case and the bank's reply in the matter, the RBI came to the conclusion that the violations were substantiated and warranted imposition of the penalty," it said. 

courtesy : www.siliconindia.com

RBI imposes penalty on four cooperative banks

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank on Tuesday imposed penalties of Rs1 lakh each on four cooperative banks on various charges including violation of anti-money laundering guidelines.
The four banks are the Jamnagar Mahila Sahakari Bank, Amreli Nagarik Sahkari Bank, Shri Mahila Sewa Sahakari Bank, Ahmedabad, and the Virambam Mercantile Cooperative Bank, the RBI said in different statements.
While Jamnagar Mahila Sahakari Bank and Amreli Nagarik Sahkari Bank were found guilty of violating instructions related to anti-money laundering guidelines, the Ahmedabad- based Shri Mahila Sewa Sahakari Bank was held responsible for violating instructions on grant of unsecured advances in excess of the prescribed ceiling.
The Virambam Mercantile Cooperative Bank, meanwhile, was charged with non-filing of cash transaction report with concerned authorities.
RBI did not provide further details of the cases.
RBI’s action comes a day after it imposed penalties of up to Rs5 lakh on two cooperative sector lenders - Surat Mercantile Co-operative Bank and Urban Co-operative Bank, Cuttack - for violation of banking norms.

Courtesy : www.livemint.com

NAFCUB : Patil makes a strong case for Budgetary concessions

The Direct Tax Code which has been introduced in Parliament as Bill has apparently treated the Cooperative Sector in a very casual and dismissive manner. It could be a fact that as the share of urban cooperative banking sector being less than 4% of the resources of the banking industry, it might not have been looked at as important enough a segment to warrant attention it otherwise deserves.

Although the urban banking sector account for only 4% of the banking sector resources, this sector caters to 60 million account holders and 15 million depositors. The membership of urban banks is over 20 million.

In addition to urban banks, there are over 40,000 cooperative credit societies in the Country(apart from PACs) catering perhaps over 20 million population, that ensure that their members do not go back

Revolver found in tainted bank GM's locker

JAIPUR: A revolver has been recovered from the locker of a working general manager of  Urban Cooperative Bank, who was arrested from Ajmer by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) for accepting bribe.

ACB sleuths had arrested Brijraj Singh for accepting a bribe of around Rs one lakh on Tuesday and were stunned when they recovered the revolver from one of his lockers during a raid.

Singh had also accepted an LCD TV from a businessman for issuing him a no objection certificate, ACB

Re-investigate Madhavpura Cooperative Bank scam: Prosecutor

Gandhinagar, Jan 7 (IANS) The special public prosecutor in the over Rs.2,000 crore Madhavpura Mercantile Cooperative Bank Scam Friday demanded reinvestigation of the case and enquiry against the police official who probed it.

Chetan Shah said Friday that he had made a written submission for this before the Ahmedabad special metropolitan magistrate as the charge-sheet lacked evidentiary value.

'The investigating policemen seemed to have gone into an overdrive collecting statements of applicants but were singularly lacking in collecting matching evidence,' he said, demanding action

2 bank employees held for fraud in Himachal Cooperative Bank

Shimla: In a shameful incident, a fraud involving Rs. 14 lakh was detected recently at the Himachal Pradesh State Cooperative Bank at Shimla involving two of it’s employees.

Police said the two accused reactivated a dormant account and then used it for transferring money from other accounts for the past six years. Upon investigating the case, the police nabbed Sanchit Acharya, junior clerk and Vijay Kumar, computer operator.

The fraud came to limelight last week when the accused did