PANJIM: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) withdrew the banking license of Mapusa Urban Cooperative Bank (MUCB) late Thursday evening. The bank has been asked to stop conducting all banking business.
Confirming this, former bank director Ramakant Khalap said, “Yes they have withdrawn the banking licence. Our first demand, which has been pending with RBI for a long time, is that the depositors be allowed to withdraw their money. We have enough funds and if they allow at least Rs one lakh per depositor, then 95 per cent of the depositors will get back their money.”
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Khalap said that there are about 1,11,000 depositors and the bank has Rs 353 crore as deposit, out of which the bank holds with itself Rs 230 crore by way of cash and government security. “We have assets worth around Rs 150 crore. Also, all depositors have been insured to the tune of Rs 5 lakh each, and this covers every depositor. So there is no problem and customers should get back their money. But RBI has to take this step expeditiously,” Khalap added.
He also spoke on what should be done with the institution and the merger issue, which had been raised with Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank (PMC) in the past. Khalap said it can still be taken up with other banks or it could be converted to a cooperative credit society, and merger is the best option even today.
“RBI and government of Goa should take immediate steps regarding this matter as the board of the bank resigned about 18 months back and no re-election took place for setting up of new board. We had informed of this after meeting all the authorities, which include RBI, State government and registrar of cooperative societies, and we were asked to hold a fresh elections about six months back, but then the issue of merger with PMC Bank came up and we were told to postpone elections and later PMC Bank was itself in deep waters,” Khalap said.
After the State government asked MUCB to postpone the election for board members, a special body meeting was held and a resolution was passed to postpone the election and wait for the merger of the MUCB with PMC. “Prior to this the Chief Minister met with RBI, our bank and other government authorities on this issue. We were almost on the verge of signing a MoU with PMC but then PMC itself collapsed. We did try with two or three other banks too but the issue of merger remained hanging,” Khalap said.
He added that they had requested RBI to appoint an administrator, which remains hanging and it could be done even now. “Now RBI and State government have to take a call, and I can say we have the money which can clear all our depositors’ dues if we are allowed to do so and 95 per cent of them have a deposit less than Rs 1 lakh and the rest can be settled through insurance and bank assets,” Khalap said.
