The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor, Bimal Jalan, is slated to meet the Gujarat chief minister, Narendra Modi, on February 21 on the contentious co-operative bank issue that has rocked the state.
The meeting gains importance in light of the turmoil the co-operative banking sector is facing in Gujarat. Depositors have lost faith in the state co-operative banks since the collapse of Madhavpura Mercantile Cooperative Bank (MMCB) in March 2001. This was the result of the pay order scandal triggered by stock broker Ketan Parekh, which also saw many other co-operative banks collapsing.
While Gujarat is formulating a new co-operative policy to help the co-operative banking sector survive the loss of depositors
