‘Bring Every UCB Under One Umbrella’: Amit Shah Announces NUCFDC HQ Shift

Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Saturday announced that the National Urban Co-operative Finance and Development Corporation (NUCFDC) will shift its headquarters from Delhi to Maharashtra. He said the umbrella organisation will help modernise the urban cooperative banking sector and make it more transparent, secure and technology-driven.

Speaking at the ‘Sahakar Nav-Kranti Mela’ in Mumbai, Shah said Maharashtra has 449 urban cooperative banks. Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa and Karnataka together host a major share of India’s UCBs. He said the ultimate aim is to bring every urban cooperative bank under one umbrella.

Shah urged all nearly 1,400 UCBs, including single-branch institutions, to join NUCFDC. He said member banks should connect with the Security Operations Centre (SOC). The platform will strengthen depositor confidence and banking security.

NUCFDC will also share regulatory updates, provide digital tools such as ‘Mule Hunter’ and conduct employee training.

Shah said the umbrella body would help UCBs compete with commercial banks and gain public and RBI trust.

The sector holds nearly ₹6 lakh crore in deposits and supports small traders, shopkeepers, cottage industries, MSMEs, entrepreneurs, self-help groups and middle-income families.

The Minister highlighted the 99.78 per cent repayment rate, including interest, on smaller collateral-free loans.

The loan limit has recently increased from ₹2.5 lakh to ₹5 lakh.

Shah linked the initiative to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Viksit Bharat’ vision for 2047 and ‘Sahkar Se Samriddhi’.

During the event, Shah virtually launched the UCBs’ SOC. Officials released a practical guide on operational risk management and felicitated six banks integrated with ‘Sahakar CBS’.

Core banking services under the national service bundle were also launched.

NUCFDC and the National Forensic Sciences University formalised an MoU covering cybersecurity, fraud prevention, digital forensics, banking security and workforce training.

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