Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank gets RBI licence

New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has today issued banking license to the Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank. The state government had written to the Centre to extend by two months the March 31 deadline set by the RBI for 11 District Central Co-operative Banks and the State Co-operative Bank to obtain the banking licence. Rakesh Mohan Committee recommendations, accepted by the Union Finance Ministry, make it mandatory for all the cooperative banks to get a licence before the deadline. Across the country, there are 134 banks which do not have licence from RBI. If the banks are unable to get the licence before the deadline, they will have to become a cooperative credit society, or merge with another bank. Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank and 11 district central cooperative banks were functioning without banking licence so far. On May 28 last year, the RBI, on the recommendation of Nabard, had dissolved the board of directors of Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank, for financial irregularities.