Several UCBs in West Bengal under RBI scanner for accounting irregularities

RBI sources say, the monitoring is being done silently for one year and soon action by the apex bank authorities against the erring banks will follow.

Kolkata: At a time when central agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) are already active in West Bengal investigating various issues like chit fund scam, coal scam, cattle smuggling, and post-poll violence, Reserve Bank India (RBI) has started silently monitoring the activities of the different Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs) in the state.

According to RBI sources, the monitoring is being done silently for almost one year and soon action by the apex bank authorities against the erring banks will follow. Sources said that during the last one year the apex bank authorities have also taken some penal measures against some erring UCBs.

"However, such action so far are just the tip of the iceberg. For the last one year, we have been silently observing the functioning modalities of a number of UCBs in West Bengal mainly the aspects of capital outflow, accounting practices, and procedural lapses in loan sanction and disbursements. The monitoring process started at the end of September last year. However, we are almost at the end of the process of analyzing our findings and major action against erring UCBs in the state to follow now," said a senior RBI official on condition of anonymity.