Public N. Ramu
Department of Commerce, Annamalai University
This article examines the recent policy developments of UCBs as well as the major issues and challenges. In the last one and a half decade the UCBs have undergone historical transformation of unprecedented breadth and depth. This new stage has generated special concern amongst cooperative banks. At the same time, the economic meltdown impaired the financial institutions all over the world but cooperative banks in most markets have performed reasonably well in comparison with other financial institutions. This is due to relatively straightforward operations of most cooperative banks, their ability to focus on member service as opposed to short-term profit maximization and the conservative nature of its executives and their regulators. The current status and the operational features of UCBs are dealt with in order to describe the future trends and potential difficulties and opportunities of urban cooperative banking sector.