Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday announced that it has imposed a monetary penalty on three cooperative banks in Gujarat for failing to comply with certain directions issued by the apex bank.

In the first case, RBI, by an order dated November 12, 2024, imposed a monetary penalty of ₹1.50 lakh on The Vepar Udhyog Vikas Sahakari Bank Limited in Dahod for non-compliance with certain directions on ‘Maintenance of Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR)’ and ‘Know Your Customer (KYC) norms.’ This bank had failed to i) maintain minimum CRR for a certain number of days; ii) carry out periodic updation of KYC of certain customers; and iii) carry out a review of risk categorization of certain accounts at least once in six months.

In the second case, the top bank imposed a monetary penalty of ₹50,000 on The Mansa Nagarik Sahakari Bank Ltd., in Gandhinagar, for non-compliance with certain directions issued by RBI on ‘Interest Rate on Deposits.’ The bank had failed to pay the applicable interest on certain term deposits, which remained unclaimed after maturity, from the date of maturity till the date of their repayment.

In the third case, the RBI imposed a monetary penalty of ₹1.50 lakh on M.S. Co-operative Bank Ltd. of Vadodara for non-compliance with certain directions on ‘Interest Rate on Deposits’ and ‘Know Your Customer (KYC).

The bank had failed to: i) pay the applicable interest on: (a) term deposits that remained unclaimed after maturity from the date of maturity till the date of their repayment, (b) term deposits for the Sundays/holidays/non-business working days on which the same had matured and were repaid on the succeeding working days, and (c) balances lying in current accounts of certain deceased individual depositors/sole proprietorship concerns, from the date of their death till the date of repayment to their claimants; and ii) carry out periodic updation of KYC of certain high-risk customers.

These actions came after the statutory inspections conducted by the RBI, assessing the financial positions of these banks as of March 31, 2023. DeshGujarat