RBI Announces Expert Committee On Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks

On Monday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced names of members that would constitute an Expert Committee on Primary (Urban) Co-operative Banks.

As part of the Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Policies released along with the Monetary Policy Statement on 5 February, the central bank had first announced the setting up such a committee to examine the issues and to provide a road map for strengthening the sector, leveraging on the recent amendments to Banking Regulation Act, 1949.

As per RBI's statement on Monday, the chairman of the expert committee would be N. S. Vishwanathan, former Deputy Governor of RBI. Members of the committee include Harsh Kumar Bhanwala (former Chairman, NABARD), Mukund M Chitale (Chartered Accountant), N. C. Muniyappa (retired IAS), R. N. Joshi (retired IAS) and Prof M. S. Sriram (IIM Bangalore). Further, Neeraj Nigam, Chief General Manager-in-Charge, Department of Regulation, RBI, would be the convenor.

The Committee will submit its report within three months from the date of its first meeting, the statement said.

The Terms of Reference (ToR) of the committee including taking stock of the regulatory measures taken by the RBI and other authorities in respect of UCBs and assess their impact over last 5 years to identify key constraints and enablers, if any, in fulfilment of their socio-economic objective.