##8 in 2011 to 1240 as on march 31, 2015. 21. a new supervisory action framework ( saf ) was prescribed by rbi in march, 2012 which replaced the graded supervisory action. as a part of the saf, rbi specified regulatory trigger points in terms of five financial parameters viz. crar, gross npas, concentration of deposits, profitability and cd ratio for initiating structured and discretionary action in respect of banks hitting such trigger points. a revised saf has been implemented based on the findings of inspection conducted with reference to march 31, 2014. under the revised framework, the individual ucb will be advised of the specific corrective action they need to take to improve the financial position. with the revision of saf as above it is expected that the board of directors of ucbs will be proactive in identifying the shortcomings / deficiencies in the functioning of the bank and taking timely action to address them. 22. in view of the critical importance of cbs in the banking system, it has now been decided to include cbs implementation as an additional criterion for a ucb to be classified as an fswm bank. with a view to imparting transparency and removing any unintended element of subjectivity the criterion of “ regulatory comfort ” has also been redefined. bis central bankers ’ speeches regulatory convergence 23. pursuant to the amendment to the banking regulation act through the banking laws ( amendment ) act, 2012, the percentage of crr to be maintained by non - scheduled co - operative banks and the percentage of slr to be maintained by co - operative banks were brought in line with that of commercial banks with effect from the fortnight beginning july 12, 2014. the assets eligible for being reckoned as part of slr were also brought on par. to ensure that this is achieved in a non - disruptive manner, banks were allowed to reach the target in a phased manner. similarly kyc guidelines for co - operative banks have also been brought at par with commercial banks. way forward 24. rbi had come out with a discussion paper on “ banking structure in india – the way forward ” in august 2013. the paper envisaged four tier banking structure consisting of international banks at tier i, national banks at tier ii, regional banks at tier iii and local banks at tier iv. the paper has brought to the fore a case for re - orienting the existing banking structure to make it more dynamic and amenable to meet the needs of the economy

scheduled ucbs, permission to offer internet ( view only ) facility to all ucbs, enhancement of limit under the scheme of bullet payment of gold loans from ₹ 1. 00 lakh to ₹ 2. 00 lakh, permission to offer demat account trading facility and liberalization of opening of off - site atm are some of the steps taken by rbi to strengthen the sector. 17. more avenues have been provided for ucbs to earn fee based income. accordingly, ucbs are now allowed to undertake point of presence ( pop ) services under pension fund regulatory and development authority ( pfrda ), act as pan service agent ( psa ) for providing pan issuance services to its customers and issue “ semi - closed pre - paid payment instruments ” permitting payment of utility bill / essential services up to a limit of ₹ 10, 000 / 18. rbi has been conducting seminars / workshops / focused training sessions for directors / officers / staff of ucbs. this is an on - going exercise and our goal is to ensure that all directors are covered under the training programme at the earliest. 19. it was decided to make it mandatory to conduct the statutory audit of ucbs with a deposit base of above ₹ 250 million by statutory auditors ( sas ) who will be qualified chartered accountants. however, it was observed that there were large divergences between the audited financial parameters of ucbs and that assessed by inspecting officers. as statutory audit is one of the important inputs based on which on - site supervision is conducted, it is imperative to improve and strengthen the quality of reports of sas. it has therefore been decided to hold workshops / seminars for sas to sensitize them with irac norms issued by rbi. institute of chartered accountants of india ( icai ) is also being advised to prescribe a standard format for statutory audit report of the ucbs. steps taken for strengthening the regulation and supervision of the sector 20. rbi moved to camels pattern of rating of ucbs w. e. f. march 31, 2011 in lieu of earlier system of grading. with the switchover to rating system, there were 697 ucbs in c & d rating which constituted 42. 47 % of the total ucbs as on march 31, 2011. the number of c & d rated ucbs has declined to 339 constituting 21. 50 % of total number of ucbs as at the end of march 31, 2015. the number of ucbs in a & b rating increased from 94