Mumbai, Agency
Home Minister Amit Shah announced here on Saturday that the headquarters of the National Urban Cooperative Finance & Development Corporation (NUCFDC) has been shifted from Delhi to Mumbai after inaugurating the new NUCFDC headquarters in Mumbai’s Fort area.
Delivering the chief guest’s keynote address at the convention organised at the BSE International Convention Centre in Mumbai, Shah said, “Maharashtra has the largest number of urban cooperative banks in the country and Maharashtra also has one of the oldest cooperative movements. Presently, Maharashtra has 449 cooperative banks and hence I took the decision to shift the headquarters of the NUCFDC from Delhi to Mumbai, because Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa and Karnataka together account for 70pc of the country's co-operative banks,”.
Earlier, Shah also launched the cybersecurity operations centre of the NUCFDC, which is the apex umbrella organisation of urban cooperative banks (UCBs) in India, set up in March 2024 and registered with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to upgrade operational capabilities as well as drive digital transformation of the cooperative banking sector.
Speaking at the NUCFDC convention, Shah, who is also the union Minister of Cooperatives, said, “This umbrella organisation (NUCFDC) will provide co-operative banks with information about new banking reforms. There are many initiatives like the Mule Hunter (an automated software-based mechanism which detects bank accounts or mule accounts used to transfer laundered money). We'll also be able to train co-operative bank employees with the help of this umbrella organisation. The co-operative banking sector desperately needs to earn trust through transparency, both from the public as well as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI),”.
“This umbrella organisation (NUCFDC) will show us the way to compete head-to-head with big banks. I wish to tell you all that our movement for urban cooperative banks is going to receive a major push from the NUCFDC. This umbrella body will modernise our co-operative banking services, make them transparent and reliable. We want to develop and expand the concept of urban cooperative banks and today is the beginning of that effort,” Shah said.
As Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy CM Eknath Shinde were seated on the dais, Shah announced that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between NUCFDC and the National Forensic Sciences University has been signed, to strengthen cybersecurity, technological capabilities and institutional capacity of the urban cooperative banking sector.
“Now, even our urban cooperative banks with just one branch will be able to offer all these services to their customers without incurring any significant costs, paving the way for even small banks to access world-class banking services. Friends, I am also the country's Home Minister. As digital transactions have progressed under Modi's leadership , the co-operative banking sector has also become increasingly vulnerable to fraud. Without the support of forensic science in the field of online banking, neither banks nor our customers will remain safe. Therefore, I urged the NUCFDC to enter into an MoU with the National Forensic Science University (NFSU) to secure transactions conducted through co-operative banks,” Shah said.
“Our forensic science university has achieved global expertise in this field and provides its services to many banks in the country in a professional manner. The agreement reached today between the NUCFDC and the NFSU will ensure that even our smallest bank will be able to provide secure services at a very low cost. This initiative will bring together cybersecurity, digital forensics, employee training and research. The Bank-in-a-Box initiative will be implemented through the cybersecurity operations centre. Inauguration of the new office will see consolidation of a number of initiatives, including core banking services, shared payment services, loan origination, Sahakar Cloud and the cybersecurity operations centre, as well as initiatives like Mule Hunter, AI, cyber insurance and cybersecurity insurance,” Shah said.
Shah said that the cybersecurity operations centre will will provide 24-hour cyber monitoring, prompt guidance and security for all urban cooperative banks.
“The presidents of the Federation of Urban Cooperative Banks from every district in Maharashtra are present here and presidents of such federations from across the country are also present. I urge everyone, even those with a single branch, to become a member of the NUCFDC in their respective districts and states as well as become members of the cybersecurity operations centre,” Shah said.
“Previously, one-time settlement OTS) was permitted only for commercial and national banks, but not for urban cooperative banks, but now the RBI has permitted a one-time settlement (OTS) scheme for urban cooperative banks. Our individual housing loan limits have also been increased. Co-operative banking license fees have been reduced. Urban cooperative banks, state banks and district cooperative banks have been designated as member lending institutions, providing risk coverage of up to 85% and collateral-free lending limit has been reduced to 7%,” Shah said.
“Cooperative banks can now provide services like demand drafts. The path for Tier-3 eligible cooperative banks to obtain scheduled bank status by being included in Schedule II of the Reserve Bank of India Act has also been simplified. For the first time since the RBI's inception, the RBI has appointed a nodal officer to communicate with the cooperative banking sector. Housing loan limits for urban cooperative banks have been increased. The Rs 2 lakh limit for women borrowers has been removed. The gold loan limit has also been lifted,” Shah said.
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