The collaborative sector has been devoid of numerous boons and is always under the scrutiny of Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The reasons for this inflexibility are their shy lending practices, rising NPA situations, political backing behind their operations and further.
As technology has been evolving and contributing to the developments in banking, collaborative banks are also looking forward to embracing it. After a prolonged delay, in early 2014, the Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs) were granted authorization from RBI to extend online banking to their guests but only with a‘ view only’ installation. So, many IT companies has developed advanced cooperative software to help in these cooperative banking sectors.
Like wise, the State Cooperative Banks (StCBs) and District Central Cooperative banks (DCCBs) also requested authorization to serve people with online banking services. The concurrence to offer internet banking to guests was eventually granted to all collaborative banks by RBI on November 5, 2015.
Only the collaborative banks that have a full-fledged Core Banking Solution (CBS) enforced and have upgraded their systems to Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) are eligible to give non-transactional through online core banking software services to guests through this provision.
Non-transactional internet banking services include the following:
• Balance enquiry
• Account summary
• Account statement generation
• Cheque book request
• Streamlining particular details etc.
Transactional installation features through cooperative Bank software
• Finances transfer (NEFT, IMPS, RTGS)
• Bill payments
• FD/ RD account opening
• Standing instructions
• Loan and credit card operations etc.
The Current Online Banking Situation in Cooperative Banks
The cooperative banks in India serve over 60 Crore people for whom banking at a physical branch is the most popular channel. With digital banking catching instigation in the recent times, UCBs and other cooperative banks have been allowed to issue ATMs, debit cards and internet banking kits to guests. Still, the hard reality countries that 38 of the total UCBs are still not having a CBS installed for managing their diurnal banking operations. The guests associated with similar banks are thus not suitable to pierce digital medium of banking.
