The Maharashtra State Co-operative Banks Association has urged the Reserve Bank of India to allow District Central Co-operative (DCC) Banks to provide the facility of exchanging the demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes to the public.

Denial of this exchange facility will cause problems to DCC Bank customers, who are predominantly farmers, said Swati Pande, CEO of the Association.

Besides accepting deposits and providing production and marketing loans to their members, DCC Banks also provide financial support to societies such as primary agricultural credit societies, the producers cooperative societies, handloom and handicrafts cooperative societies, salary earners' cooperative societies consumers' cooperative societies

The RBI on Monday clarified that DCC Banks can allow their existing customers to withdraw money from their accounts upto ₹ 24,000/- per week up to November 24, 2016. However no exchange facility against the specified bank notes (₹ 500/- and ₹ 1000/-) or deposit of such notes should be entertained by them.

Underscoring the fact that DCC Banks (DCCBs) are working in urban, semi-urban and rural areas with their 5000 branches, Pande said these branches have the deposits of small persons, farmers, credit societies, and housing societies.

Currently, there are 367 DCC Banks in the country. In November 2014, the central government announced a scheme for the revival of 23 unlicensed DCCBs in four states (16 in Uttar Pradesh, three each in Jammu and Kashmir and Maharashtra, and one in West Bengal).

Subsequent to the release of funds by the central government, the state governments of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, and NABARD, licences were issued in 2015-16 to three DCCBs in Maharashtra and 11 DCCBs in Uttar Pradesh bringing down the number of unlicensed DCCBs to nine as on June 30, 2016.

Meanwhile, the RBI has advised the Urban Cooperative Banks through its Regional Offices and the State Cooperative Banks through National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD) of the need to ensure strict compliance with the instructions issued with regard to exchange of specified (demonetised) bank notes as also deposit of such notes into the accounts of their customers.

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