‘MMCB to resume operations soon'

The Madhavpura Mercantile Co-operative Bank will commence operations soon, minister of state for co-operation Ramanlal Vora told reporters here on Thursday.

Mr. Vora said the modalities for restarting the bank had been discussed in detail during a recent meeting held in Mumbai in the presence of Reserve Bank of India officials and officials from the Central Registrar’s office.

"The procedure has already started," he added. He added that the entire procedure of procuring Rs 464 crore from the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation would also take around one month. "Getting the necessary guarantees from the Centre and the state government and the appointment of the new bank management will be completed in about a month."

On the question of whether premature deposits would be allowed to be withdrawn, Mr. Vora clarified that he was not aware of the policy that would be adopted by the RBI for the withdrawal of premature deposits but said the depositors will have nothing to lose if they continued as they will be losing on the interest otherwise.

Earlier, the Gujarat Urban Cooperative Bank’s federation approved the revival package for MMCB in the meeting on Monday and expressed the possibility of repayment to the depositors in August.

The federation also agreed to invest Rs 800 crore or the revival of the bank on which the state and Central government has decided to give credit guarantee. Moreover, it is now clear that the pay orders worth Rs 72 crores that were issued till March 12 will now be honored. Ahmedabad city bankers and National Urban Bank will meet to discuss the issue.

Republished from The Asian Age