A recent press report said that the Reserve Bank of India has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs. 1.00 lakh (Rupees one lakh only) on The Prerana Co-operative Bank Ltd., Pune, Maharashtra in exercise of powers vested in it under the provisions of Section 47(A)(1)(b) read with Section 46(4) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (AACS) for violation of Reserve Bank of India’s directives on unsecured advances.
The Reserve Bank of India had issued a show cause notice to the bank, in response to which the bank submitted a written reply. The bank was also called for a personal hearing. Based on the reply and submissions made by the bank during the personal hearing, the Reserve Bank came to the conclusion that the violations were substantiated and warranted imposition of the penalty.
Apart from The Prerana Co-operative Bank Ltd, the RBI has also imposed fines on several other cooperative banks operating in states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and West Bengal for violating the regulatory guidelines in recent times.
The RBI had recently imposed a penalty of Rs 500,000 on Ahmedabad, Gujarat-based cooperative bank Siddhi Co-operative Bank Limited for violating RBI guidelines on Know Your Customer (KYC)/Anti Money Laundering (AML) rules, and for submitting improper compliance of the observations made in its last inspection report.s