Page 57 - BANKING FINANCE NOVEMBER 2023

RBI CIRCULAR

RBI

CIRCULAR

Banking Regulation (Amendment) Act Mumbai Office) of the Reserve Bank of India for grant
of no objection certificate (NOC) under Sections 49B
2020 - Change in Name of Co-operative and 49C of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (‘BR Act’),
Banks clearly stating the reason/s for such change (as per
format given in Annex – 2). The approval of the Gen-
October 30, 2023
eral Body of the bank shall be mandatory at the time
of submitting such requests to RBI.
1. Pursuant to the notification of the Banking Regulation
2. NOC from RBI under section 49C read with section 56
(Amendment) Act (No. 39 of 2020), Sections 49B and
49C of Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (‘BR Act’) are of BR Act, 1949 will be necessary only in case there is
a requirement for ‘confirmation’ from Central/State
applicable to Co-operative Banks. In terms of Section
49B, the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies Government, one or more authority/authorities for al-
(CRCS)/Registrar of Cooperative Societies (RCS) shall not teration of bye-laws under the applicable Co-operative
signify its approval to the change of name of any co- Act /Rules. It will be mandatory for a co-operative bank
operative bank unless the Reserve Bank certifies in to give a declaration in writing regarding above men-
writing that it has no objection to such change. Fur- tioned requirement for ‘confirmation’ under the appli-
ther, in terms of Section 49C, no application for the cable Co-operative Act /Rules while submitting its re-
confirmation of the alteration of bye-laws of a co-op- quest to RBI.
erative bank shall be maintainable unless Reserve Bank 3. It may be noted that the cooperative banks shall submit
certifies that there is no objection to such alteration. their requests for change of name and bye-laws, only
2. Accordingly, it has been decided to issue guidelines with when these are supported by valid and compelling rea-
regard to the procedure to be followed for any change son/s for the proposed change. It may be noted that RBI
in name by a Co-operative Bank as enclosed in Annex -1. shall have the discretion to assess whether the reason/
s submitted by the bank are valid and compelling.
Commencement
4. After getting NOC from the concerned office of the Re-
3. These guidelines will come into effect from the date of
serve Bank, the Co-operative banks will approach the
issue of this circular.
Central Registrar of Co-operative Societies (CRCS) or
Encl: Annex – 1 and 2 Registrar of Co-operative Societies (RCS)1 for amend-
Annex – 1 ment in their bye-laws. Once the approval is obtained
from CRCS/RCS, the Co-operative Banks will apply to
1. A cooperative bank desirous of change in its name shall the concerned Regional Office of the Reserve Bank
approach the Department of Supervision (DoS) of the with the following documents:
concerned Regional Office (DoS, Central Office in case
i. Approval of Board of Directors
of Co-operative Banks coming under the purview of

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