The committees’ reports on urban Co-Operative Banks in India

The Indian financial system will grow not only in size but also in complexity as the forces of competition gain further momentum and financial market acquire greater depth. The policy environment will remain supportive of healthy growth and development with accent on more operational flexibility as well as greater prudential regulation and supervision. The real success of our financial sector reforms will however depend primarily on the organizational effectiveness of the banks, including urban cooperative banks (UCBs), for which initiatives will have to come from the banks themselves. The main objectives of UCBs were to meet the banking and credit requirements of the urban middle/lower classes and to protect them from exploitation. The UCBs have been occupying a unique place in the Indian cooperative credit structure and ranked a very significant position in the Indian banking sector, which in the recent years has gone through a lot of turmoil, a series of failure and financial irregularities in Indian UCBs. This paper points to the significant role played by the reports of various committees appointed by the Central/State governments or RBI for strengthening and growth of urban co-operative banks in India.