the goan I network
MAPUSA
The Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank’s recent fiasco has taken a toll on the cooperative banks which are under financial stress in the State, even as the management of the Mapusa Urban Coop Bank (MUCB) is hoping for a positive response from the chief minister.
In fact, on the initiative of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, the MUCB Board of Directors had taken steps to facilitate the merger of the MUCB with the PMC Bank.
The sudden pre-emptive action of the RBI against the PMC Bank has scuttled all those plans leaving the management with no option but to look for merger options with other banks.
“Talks with Thane Janata Sahakari Bank (TJSB) are going on. But besides that, we are also expecting to meet the chief minister soon to chart a new way forward after the PMC bank debacle,” said Shailendra Sawant, General Manager of MUCB.
He said the management was expected to meet the CM who is expected to soon wind up his campaign for the Maharashtra assembly polls.
Incidentally, the RBI in August this year had extended the embargo on the Mapusa Urban Coop Bank until November 18 with a warning that no more extensions will be considered after that.
Assuring the depositors and the shareholders of the MUCB, the General Manager has said the bank has enough assets to pay every single paisa of the depositors and with interest.
“Even in the worse possible condition, the bank has enough capacity to clear all the dues of the depositors and the shareholders,” Sawant said. It may be recalled MUCB’s finances came under strain after RBI imposed certain curbs on its financial transactions in 2014.
In its latest order issued on August 18, the apex bank has extended the curbs on the bank for another three months which ends on November 18.
MUCB has 24 branches in the State besides the head office in Mapusa and 193 staff members in all. The bank has 1.19 lakh shareholders and 2.48 lakh depositors.
