Ministry pushing RBI to open licences for more urban cooperative banks: Secretary Ashish Kumar Bhutani

3 min readNew DelhiJul 28, 2026 03:02 AM IST Of the 1,450 UCBs in the country, almost 1,100 are in three states — Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Karnataka. The Ministry of Cooperation has urged the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to open licences for more urban cooperative banks in the country, a top official said on Monday. Speaking at a book release function, Cooperation Ministry Secretary Ashish Kumar Bhutani said that India needs urban cooperative banks (UCBs) in every town of the country.Echoing the views, Satish K Marathe, director, Central Board of RBI, said there are hundreds of districts in the country that do not have UCBs. “Of the 1,450 UCBs in the country, almost 1,100 are in three states — Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Karnataka. The rest of the country has very few (urban cooperative) ban