Amit Shah Launches Cybersecurity, Digital Banking Services for Urban Cooperative Banks
Mumbai, Aug 8 (TNT) : Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Saturday launched a Security Operations Centre (SOC) and an integrated “Bank in a Box” service aimed at modernising the country’s Urban Cooperative Banking sector through digital technology, cybersecurity and shared banking infrastructure.
The initiatives were launched at the ‘Sahkar Nav-Kranti’ programme held at the BSE International Convention Centre here.
An MoU was also exchanged between the National Urban Cooperative Finance and Development Corporation (NUCFDC) and the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) to strengthen cybersecurity and digital forensic capabilities of Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs).
Shah said the long-awaited Umbrella Organisation for Urban Cooperative Banks had become a reality following recognition from the Reserve Bank of India and mobilisation of Rs 306 crore in capital.
The organisation would provide UCBs with technical and institutional support and help them comply with RBI regulatory requirements.
The Bank in a Box service will provide core banking, digital payments, cloud services, regulatory compliance and other modern banking facilities through a single platform.
Shah said it would enable even small, single-branch UCBs to offer modern banking services without having to bear high technology costs.
Under the NUCFDC-NFSU partnership, cybersecurity and digital forensic services, employee training and research facilities will be made available to UCBs.
The SOC will provide round-the-clock cyber monitoring, security support and immediate guidance, Shah said, urging all UCBs to become members of the facility.
The Umbrella Organisation will also provide services including Sahkar CBS, shared payment services, loan origination systems, Sahkar Cloud, MuleHunter, AI-based fraud-prevention systems, group cyber insurance, Aadhaar-based services and automated regulatory compliance, Shah said.
He said nearly Rs 6 lakh crore was deposited in around 1,400 Urban Cooperative Banks across the country. These banks play an important role in providing credit to small traders, MSMEs, local entrepreneurs, women self-help groups and other sections of society, he said.
Shah said the Umbrella Organisation would help reduce technology costs by procuring software and services collectively on behalf of UCBs instead of requiring individual banks to independently develop and maintain expensive systems.
He also highlighted recent reforms aimed at strengthening UCBs, including permission to open up to 15 per cent additional branches without separate approval, doorstep banking, simplified eligibility for scheduled-bank status for eligible Tier-3 cooperative banks, reduction of the Priority Sector Lending target from 75 per cent to 60 per cent, enhanced housing-loan limits and extension of the One-Time Settlement facility.
Shah said 650 of the 1,400 UCBs had so far joined the Umbrella Organisation and called for all UCBs to become members within the next year.
He said Maharashtra has the highest number of UCBs in the country, with 449, and announced that the NUCFDC headquarters would be shifted from Delhi to Maharashtra.
Shah said strengthening UCBs was central to the government’s ‘Sahkar Se Samriddhi’ vision and would help expand formal credit and self-employment opportunities, particularly in smaller towns.
At the programme, Shah also released a book on Operational Risk Management for Urban Cooperative Banks and a coffee-table book on the history of cooperative banking in India, besides felicitating representatives of the first six UCBs to join Sahkar CBS.
TNT KS
