The Reserve Bank of India has imposed monetary penalties on nine cooperative banks on account of various contraventions or non-compliances with laid down guidelines.

The monetary penalties slapped on these banks range from Rs 25,000 to Rs 3.1 lakh, RBI said in nine standalone statements on Monday.

The central bank has imposed penalties on two banks each from Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat while one bank each from Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, and Jharkhand.

These banks include The Berhampur Cooperative Urban Bank, The Kendrapara Urban Co-operative Bank, The Jamshedpur Urban Cooperative Bank, Krishna Mercantile Co-operative Bank, Renuka Nagarik Sahakari Bank Maryadit, Jila Sahakari Kendriya Bank Maryadit, Osmanabad Janata Sahakari Bank, The Santrampur Urban Co-operative Bank, and The Nawanagar Co-operative Bank.

Out of these nine banks, Kendrapara Urban Co-operative Bank and Berhampur Cooperative Urban Bank are based in Odisha. They have been fined Rs 50,000 and Rs 3.10 lakh respectively by the bank regulator.

Berhampur bank was imposed with a penalty as it did not comply with its directions on prudential inter-bank (gross) exposure norms and prudential inter-bank counter-party limit, allot Unique Customer Identification Codes (UCIC) to its individual customers and submit the correct certificate regarding transfer to the Depositor Education and Awareness Fund, the RBI said in its statement.

Santrampur Urban Co-operative Bank and Nawanagar Co-operative Bank which are based in Gujarat have been fined Rs 2 lakh and Rs 25,000 respectively. According to RBI, Santrampur Urban Co-operative Bank failed to maintain the minimum CRR (Cash Reserve Ratio).

The central bank imposed a penalty of Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh respectively on Krishna Mercantile Co-operative Bank and Jila Sahakari Kendriya Bank which are based in Madhya Pradesh.

Similarly, The Jamshedpur Urban Cooperative Bank Ltd is based in Jharkhand and was slapped with a fine of Rs 1 lakh due to a violation of specific directions issued to the bank by RBI under SAF (Supervisory Action Framework).

Further, The RBI said that Chhatishgarh’s Renuka Nagarik Sahakari Bank has been fined Rs 1 lakh and Maharashtra’s Osmanabad Janata Sahakari Bank with Rs 2.5 lakh.

The RBI said this action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the banks with its customers.

After considering the banks’ reply to the notice, the RBI came to the conclusion that the aforesaid charge was substantiated and warranted the imposition of a monetary penalty.

(with inputs from Agencies)