Cabinet okays changes to bank laws to avoid repeat of PMC Bank-like crises

In order to protect interest of depositors, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved amendment to Banking Regulation Act to strengthen cooperative banks and avoid PMC Bank like crisis.

There are 1,540 cooperative banks with depositor base of 86 million having total savings of about Rs 5 trillion.

The proposed law seeks to enforce banking regulation guidelines of the RBI in cooperative banks, while administrative issues will still be guided by Registrar of Cooperative, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said while briefing media about the Cabinet decisions.

Observing that the changes will help strengthen financial stability, he said qualifications would