Mmcb Plan Awaits Rbi, Ministry Okay

Members of the Madhavpura Mercantile Cooperative Bank (MMCB) revival committee, who prepared the rehabilitation package and submitted it to the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies, State RCS, finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India on May 19, have said that the package is still under the scrutiny of the RBI and the finance ministry.

The committee comprising Gujarat Cooperation minister Ramanbhai Vora, state revenue minister Vaju Vala, Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank chairman Amit Shah, Gujarat registrar of Cooperative Societies R M Joshi and Ahmedabad City and District Cooperative Bank Association (ACDCBA) secretary R S Patel had met finance minister Yashwant Sinha and home minister L K Advani in New Delhi on May 22 and discussed the package.

 

Speaking on condition of anonymity, one of the above members of the committee said here on Monday that the finance minister had fixed another meeting with them on May 29 to discuss the package but due to some other urgent matter that has cropped up in the ministry, the said meeting has now been postponed. The new date for the meeting has yet not been intimated to them, he added.

"Whether or not the finance ministry would approve it or not would mainly depend on the opinion of the RBI and the Central RCS. The major issue here is whether RBI would approve providing Rs 470 crore from its Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation. As this is an unprecedented demand, RBI would have to study various aspects before giving the go-ahead," he elaborated.

RBI sources, however, said the finance ministry, the RBI, the Central RCS and the state government are still studying the revival report and only after they meet and discuss with each other, would a joint decision be taken in this case.

So it is too premature to assume that the Union finance ministry has already approved the report or given a green signal to the MMCB revival package.