Risks Of Dealing With Co-operative Banks

Co-operative banks sometimes offer higher interests on FDs than PSU banks.This makes their deposits interesting when inflation remains high and investors are trying to grab the last paisa in returns.Moreover,when these banks are scheduled(Link),they offer the comfort of RBI supervision and deposit insurance.

However,parking your money in these banks,still carries a measure of risk,as can be seen in the Kapol bank case.Link.The money in your FDs might not be available as and when you need it.

Often the RBI merges weak cooperative banks with stronger ones.In such cases restrictions are imposed on transactions by the customers of the weak bank,to ensure that this weak bank doesn’t collapse.This can be a source of hardship,if you need to access your money urgently.

So always park only a part pf your corpus in any one co-operative bank.Also remember that the RBI makes allowances in case of real distress,but you will have to make your case before top management and wait for them to exercise their discretion.