December 17, 2016 2:11:04 am

State Cooperation Minister Subhash Deshmukh claimed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to relax the norms it had imposed on state District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs). The Centre had conveyed the RBI’s decision to the state government, he said.
The state has 35 DCCBs with 5,000 branches across 40,000 villages, covering almost 80 per cent of the agriculture sector. Most farmers in rural Maharashtra operate through DCCBs.
“The decision to relax the norms has come as a great relief as massive collections coupled with uncertainty about the deposits had set us worried. Moreover, because of the massive collections, DCCBs were forced to give higher interest rates, which was becoming difficult to manage,” Mumbai DCCB chairman Praveen Darekar told The Indian Express.
Last week, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis along with an all-party delegation met Arun Jaitley in Delhi, apprising the Union Finance Minister about the hardships farmers were facing because of the RBI ban disallowing deposit of old Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes in DCCBs.