Bifurcation of Goa state coop bank likely by June

PANAJI: The bifurcation of the Goa State Cooperative Bank from its Daman and Diu banking operations could be completed by June, said V B Prabhu Verlekar, chairman of the government-appointed administrative committee for the apex cooperative bank for Goa.
With the state government giving an ‘in-principle approval’ as required by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), all that is left is a green signal from NABARD, which is assisting the bank in shedding its operations in the Union territories.
“The Gujarat regional office of NABARD has carried out the inspection of the branches in Daman and Diu and the report has to be submitted,” Verlekar told TOI. “NABARD expects to have the report in the next week.”
Goa State Cooperative Bank enjoys the status of the apex cooperative bank in Goa and is a multi-state cooperative bank. RBI had given the bank a deadline of April 2016 to complete the bifurcation of banking operations, but the bank failed to meet that deadline, as well as several other deadlines set thereafter.
RBI had made it mandatory that prior to the bifurcation, the state government, which holds a stake in the bank, issues a no-objection certificate stating that it is not averse to the proposed bifurcation of the bank. RBI had also sought an assurance from the state government that should financial support be required for the bifurcation, the state government would be willing to provide funds through share capital contribution.
“On March 31, we received Rs 15 crore as capital infusion from the government,” said Verlekar. “This has increased our share capital to Rs 74.7 crore.” He added that the state government had complied with all the requirements stipulated by RBI.