No unusual deposits in Ahmedabad DCCB during demonetisation, says Nabard

Amid reports of high number of demonetised currency being deposited in Ahmedabad DCCB, regulator Nabard today said the deposits were in line with size of the bank and all KYC norms were adhered to

BJP chief Amit Shah

NEW DELHI: Amid reports of high number of demonetised currency being deposited in Ahmedabad DCCB, regulator Nabard today said the deposits were in line with size of the bank and all KYC norms were adhered to. Nabard saw nothing unusual in the scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes (worth Rs 746 crore) deposited or exchanged during November 10-14, 2016, and said that only 1.6 lakh out of 17 lakh account holders deposited the amount at an average of Rs 46,795. The clarification by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) came after reports suggested that deposits were unusually high in Ahmedabad District Central Cooperative Bank (DCCB), where BJP president Amit Shah is a director. "Of the total 17 lakh accounts with the Ahmedabad DCCB, deposits or exchanges were made only by 1.60 lakh customers, a miniscule 9.37 per cent of the total deposit accounts", Nabard said in a statement . Of these, less than Rs 2.5 lakh were deposited in 98.94 per cent of the accounts in which deposits or exchanges were made, it said. The verification conducted by Nabard also highlighted the fact that the average deposit amount in Ahmedabad DCCB was Rs 46,795 which was lower than average per depositor in 18 DCCBs of Gujarat. During this intervening period of November 10-14, 2016, 1.60 lakh customers of the bank deposited or exchanged demonetised notes aggregating to Rs 746 crore which was only about 15 per cent of total deposits of the bank, it said. Incidentally, the statement said, demonetised notes presented in the DCCBs of Maharashtra were higher than those deposited in Gujarat, followed by DCCBs in Kerala. The Ahmedabad DCCB verification conducted by Nabard revealed that the bank had complied with all the KYC guidelines of the RBI while accepting the demonetised notes. "As per the verification report of Nabard, required under the extant guidelines, the bank had also submitted the required cash transaction reports (CTRs) to FlU-India wherever required. The average amount of demonetised notes deposited by the customers of the bank has been lower than that of other banks," it said. Based on the satisfactory verification of demonetised notes held by concerned DCCBs across India, including Ahmedabad and Rajkot, RBI accepted the demonetised notes held by these DCCBs, it said, adding that the RBI gave necessary credit in the accounts of DCCBs concerned. The statement emphasised the fact that the Cooperative Credit Structure has been vibrant in western, southern and northern India, serving large number of small depositors and farmers. Ahmedabad DCCB, with total business levels of over Rs 9,000 crore, is one of the top ten DCCBs of the country, and was recently awarded for the best performance by the Federation of the Cooperative Banks, it said. The bank has a total of 194 branches, the highest among all the DCCBs of Gujarat. Its deposit base of Rs 5,330 crore is also the highest among all the banks of Gujarat, with nearly 17 lakh deposit accounts, it said. Noting that the farmer-friendly bank has adopted technology to the core to enhance ease of doing banking to farmers, the statement said, it is among the first few DCCBs of the country to offer modern mobile banking facility to its customers. Ahmedabad DCCB is among the few banks which have issued Rupay Kisan Cards (1.63 lakh) to all its borrowing farmer members, it said. It also has highest number of ATMs (59) among the DCCBs of Gujarat, besides 200 micro ATMs.