RBI fines Bandhan Bank for not reducing promoter shareholding to 40%

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday imposed a penalty of Rs 1 crore on Bandhan Bank for not bringing down the promoter shareholding to 40 per cent. Bandhan MFI had obtained in-principle universal banking license from the central bank in 2014 and started full-fledged operations as a bank from August 2015.

RBI imposed the penalty on account of failure to pare the shareholding of Bandhan Financial Holdings Ltd to 40 per cent of its paid-up voting capital, within three years from commencement of the business of the bank, the lender said in a BSE filing.

Bandhan Bank came out with an IPO and got listed in March 2018.

The bank had recently merged with Gruh Finance, which brought down the shareholding of the promoter from 82.26 per cent to 60.96 per cent. The lender had earlier said it was making efforts to further reduce the shareholding to 40 per cent.

The central bank has also imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore on Pune-based Janata Sahakari Bank and Rs 25 lakh on Jalgaon Peoples Co-operative Bank efor violating income recognition, advances management and asset classification norms.

The RBI has imposed, by order dated October 16, monetary penalty of Rs 1 crore on Janata Sahakari Bank, Pune, for non-compliance with directions issued on income recognition and asset classification (IRAC) norms, management of advances and exposure norms and statutory or other restrictions, the central bank said in a release on Tuesday.

In a similarly-worded but separate release, it said monetary penalty of Rs 25 lakh has been imposed on the Jalgaon Peoples Co-operative Bank, Jalgaon, Maharashtra (the bank) for non-compliance of these norms.

The penalty has been imposed in exercise of powers vested in the RBI under the provisions of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, taking into account failure of the bank to adhere to the aforesaid directions issued by the RBI, it said referring to the banks.

"This action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank with its customers," the RBI said.