RBI Launches Mission SAKSHAM: Nationwide Capacity Building for Urban Cooperative Banks
The RBI launched Mission SAKSHAM (SAHKARI BANK KSHAMTA NIRMAN) on April 28, 2026, as a mission-mode, sector-wide, all-India capacity-building training initiative for Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs).
The initiative targets approximately 1.40 lakh participants across all levels of UCB operations: Board Members, Senior Management, Risk/Compliance/Audit heads, and IT staff.
Training content will be delivered through both in-person sessions and digital (online) courses, with regional language accessibility wherever feasible.
The mission was designed in collaboration with the Umbrella Organisation of UCBs and National and State Cooperative Federations, ensuring stakeholder participation in programme design.
The stated goals are to enhance managerial and operational competencies, strengthen compliance culture, build institutional resilience, and establish a sustainable self-reinforcing ecosystem for continuous learning within the UCB sector.
Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs): Structure and Regulation
Urban Cooperative Banks are financial institutions registered under the Cooperative Societies Act (state or central) that primarily serve urban and semi-urban populations — particularly lower- and middle-income groups, small traders, and artisans. They are distinct from commercial banks in their member-ownership structure, democratic governance (one member one vote), and geographically limited operations.
Mission SAKSHAM directly addresses the governance and compliance weaknesses historically associated with UCBs, building on the enhanced regulatory architecture introduced by the 2020 Banking Regulation Amendment.
The PMC Bank Crisis and Cooperative Banking Reforms
The Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank crisis of 2019 — where large-scale fraudulent loans to a single real estate group (HDIL) were hidden through dummy accounts — became a watershed moment for cooperative banking regulation in India. It exposed how weak governance, insider lending, and opaque audit systems could cause depositor harm at scale.
Key Details
- PMC Bank had over ₹6,700 crore in exposure to HDIL group, forming ~73% of its total loan book.
- The crisis triggered the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Act, 2020, bringing cooperative banks further under RBI supervision.
- The RBI's Supervisory Action Framework (SAF) for UCBs was revised in January 2020, enabling prompt corrective action based on capital adequacy, NPA levels, and return on assets.
- Mission SAKSHAM's focus on compliance culture and risk management directly responds to the root causes of the PMC-type failures.
The capacity building initiative is part of the RBI's broader agenda to prevent recurrence of governance failures in the cooperative banking sector that have harmed depositors and eroded public trust.
Umbrella Organisation for UCBs
The Umbrella Organisation (UO) concept was recommended by an RBI-constituted Expert Committee for UCBs to provide shared IT, risk management, financial support, and training services to member UCBs — similar to institutional support structures in cooperative banking in countries like Germany (Volksbanken) and the Netherlands (Rabobank).
Key Details
- The National Federation of Urban Cooperative Banks and Credit Societies (NAFCUB) is the apex federation representing UCBs in India.
- The UO would be licensed as a Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) and serve as a self-regulatory support structure.
- Mission SAKSHAM was developed in collaboration with both the Umbrella Organisation and National/State Cooperative Federations, signalling that training architecture will be institutionalised rather than ad hoc.
The collaborative design of Mission SAKSHAM with the Umbrella Organisation and Cooperative Federations is a model for governance-through-capacity-building — decentralised delivery with central standards.
- Mission full form: SAKSHAM = SAHKARI BANK KSHAMTA NIRMAN
- Launch date: April 28, 2026
- Target participants: ~1.40 lakh (Board Members, Senior Management, Risk/Compliance/Audit, IT staff)
- Delivery modes: In-person sessions + digital (online) courses; regional language options
- Collaborators in design: Umbrella Organisation of UCBs + National and State Cooperative Federations
- Key regulatory milestone: Banking Regulation (Amendment) Act, 2020 — strengthened RBI supervision over UCBs
- RBI's 4-tier UCB structure (2021 committee): Tier 1 (up to ₹100 cr deposits) to Tier 4 (above ₹10,000 cr deposits)
- UCB licences cancelled since FY16: 54 (due to poor financial performance)
- Duality of control: RBI (banking functions) + Registrar of Cooperative Societies (cooperative functions) — applies since March 1, 1966
- PMC Bank crisis year: 2019 (trigger for subsequent UCB regulatory reforms)