RBI Slaps Rs18 lakh Penalty on 5 Cooperative Banks, 1 HFC
Moneylife Digital Team 17 October 2025
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed penalties of Rs18 lakh on five cooperative banks and a housing finance company (HFC) for non-compliance with the directions issued by the banking regulator. 
 
The entities penalised by the RBI include Ghatal Peoples Cooperative Bank Ltd, Ranaghat People’s Cooperative Bank Ltd and Sahara Housingfina Corporation Ltd, an HFC, from West Bengal, Gopalganj Central Cooperative Bank Ltd and Begusarai Central Cooperative Bank Ltd from Bihar and Boudh Cooperative Central Bank Ltd from Odisha.
 
Ghatal Peoples Cooperative Bank has been penalised Rs5.50 lakh for non-compliance with directions issued by RBI on know-your-customer (KYC).
 
RBI’s statutory inspection revealed that Ghatal Peoples Cooperative Bank had failed to conduct periodic reviews of the risk categorisation of accounts, which are required to be carried out at least once every six months and failed to upload customers' KYC records to the central KYC records registry (CKYCR) within the prescribed timeline.
 
Gopalganj Central Cooperative Bank was also fined Rs5.50 lakh for violating provisions of Section 9 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and for non-compliance with directions on KYC norms. The lender had failed to dispose of certain non-banking assets within the prescribed period and to upload customers' KYC records to CKYCR within the stipulated timeline.
 
Ranaghat People’s Cooperative Bank, Begusarai Central Cooperative Bank and Sahara Housingfina Corporation were penalised by RBI for failing to upload customers’ KYC records to the CKYCR within the prescribed timeline. 
 
As a result, RBI imposed monetary penalties of Rs5 lakh on Ranaghat People’s Cooperative Bank, Rs1.40 lakh on Begusarai Central Cooperative Bank and Rs50,000 on Sahara Housingfina Corporation.
 
Boudh Cooperative Central Bank has been penalised Rs10,000 for non-compliance with RBI directions on membership of credit information companies (CICs) by cooperative banks. RBI statutory inspection of the bank, conducted by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), revealed that the lender had failed to submit credit information of its customers to three CICs.
 
In all five cases, RBI says the penalties imposed are based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and are not intended to pronounce on the validity of any transaction or agreement they entered into with their customers.
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