Shah Announces Shifting Of NUCFDC Headquarters From Delhi To Mumbai

Mumbai: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who also holds charge of the Cooperation Ministry, on Saturday announced that the headquarters of the National Urban Cooperative Finance and Development Corporation (NUCFDC), also known as the Umbrella Organisation, would be shifted from Delhi to Mumbai.

The announcement came during the inauguration of NUCFDC’s new office premises at Sharada Sadan in the Fort area of south Mumbai. At the event, the NUCFDC and the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish a centralised cybersecurity system for urban cooperative banks. The MoU was exchanged in the presence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Mr Shah.

Addressing the ‘Sahakar Nav-Kranti Melava’ organised at the BSE International Convention Centre in Mumbai, Mr Shah said the establishment of the Umbrella Organisation would give a new lease of life to the urban cooperative banking movement in the country and facilitate its expansion.

The organisation, he said, would play a crucial role in strengthening urban cooperative banks technologically, administratively and regulatorily, while making their banking services more modern, transparent and reliable.

Mr Shah said Maharashtra has the highest number of urban cooperative banks in the country and has been one of the major centres of the cooperative movement since its inception. At present, 449 urban cooperative banks are operating in the State.

“A proposal to shift the headquarters of the Umbrella Organisation from Delhi to Maharashtra has been placed before the organisation itself on Saturday morning, as Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa and Karnataka together account for nearly 70 per cent of the country's urban cooperative banks. Therefore, the headquarters of the organisation should be located in a region where cooperative banking activities are concentrated,” the Union minister said.

Mr Shah expressed hope that the Umbrella Organisation would take the necessary steps in this direction. He said the long-awaited Umbrella Organisation had now come into existence and had received recognition from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He described the opening of its new office as a significant achievement for the urban cooperative banking sector.

Referring to the historical significance of August 8, Mr Shah said that on the same day in 1942, Mahatma Gandhi had given the call for the Quit India Movement. “On the same historic day, an important step is being taken towards strengthening the cooperative banking system at every tehsil level across the country,” he said.

The Union Minister also highlighted the historical significance of the premises where the new office of the Umbrella Organisation has been established. For nearly 100 years, the building served as the historic trading hall of the Bombay Stock Exchange and remained a major centre of India's capital market activities.

Mr Shah said the objective of the Umbrella Organisation was to provide urban cooperative banks with technical infrastructure, cybersecurity, payment systems and modern banking facilities at an affordable cost. “If all 1,400 urban cooperative banks in the country were to purchase these services, software and technological systems separately and maintain them independently, the cost would be extremely high. In contrast, the Umbrella Organisation will enter into collective contracts on behalf of all the banks, procure the required software and take responsibility for maintenance, thereby substantially reducing costs and enabling small banks to benefit from modern technology,” he said.

Mr Shah said the rapid growth of digital transactions in the country had also increased the challenge of cyber fraud. To tackle the problem, the Centre has established the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, while the RBI and banks are working to curb cyber fraud through initiatives such as ‘Mule Hunter’.

“Forensic science and digital forensic expertise are essential to make online banking more secure. With this objective, the Umbrella Organisation has signed an agreement with the National Forensic Sciences University. The initiative will seek to make cybersecurity and digital forensic facilities available at affordable costs, even to branches of the smallest urban cooperative banks,” he said.