Urban Cooperative Banks : At Crossroads

Urban Cooperative Bank in India, with their long history of over 100 years, play an important role in financial inclusion. The mainstay of these banks was rooted in their captive clientele the forms of shareholders, and also in some cases specific community or location. This shielded them from the competition from large commercial banks. Recently, Indian banking industry has witnessed failure of a large number of Urban Cooperative banks. What are the reasons for these failures and what lays ahead for cooperative banks in India? This paper analyze the causes of concern and brings out some of the measures such as giving preferential treatment which would help urban cooperative banks to co-exist in the present competitive environment