of the future – there is huge potential and an exciting opportunity. however, the expansion of such capabilities must be accompanied by a minimum level of essential security features and continued compliance with established covenants and international standards relating to privacy of customer transactions in order to enhance the customers ’ confidence in the mobile and internet banking by controlling the fraudulent transactions. in order to enhance the deployment of technology in ucbs, a group was constituted to examine the various areas where it support could be provided by the reserve bank of india. based on the recommendations of the working group which looked into ways of supporting it initiatives of the ucbs, idrbt is being asked to facilitate ucbs availing of core banking platform on an application service provider ( asp ) model. with this, the ucbs will be able to put in place cost - effective, modern technology so as to render better customer service and sound regulatory compliance. challenges before ucbs the success of cooperatives ultimately depends upon their ability to perform their duties and fulfill the expectations of their members. the loyalties of the members can be retained not on the basis of monopoly, agreements or under duress but on the strength of the goodwill secured by rendering service. banking cooperatives are sometimes organised and administered by those who lack both the qualifications and the experience necessary for the job. this factor alone accounts for a large number of cooperatives'failures and the uneven development of the movement, in the country. the importance of efficient management cannot, therefore, be over emphasised. functioning in a highly technologically advanced banking environment in the country is in itself a challenge and an opportunity for the ucbs to upgrade to a computerized environment so as to focus on more business opportunities and render better customer service. these technological platforms provide an impetus for growth. the role of training and educating not only the staff but also the customers about the various technology based banking and financial services also plays an important part here. being a movement essentially dependent on the ability of persons in humble walks of life, who are often amateurs in the handling of business operations, the need for training and education is greater to optimally utilise the technological platform. rbi is also trying to facilitate the imparting of training to the key players responsible for the growth of ucbs. to improve the professional skills and as part of the commitment made in the mous with the state govts., free of cost training courses for directors, ceos and other officials of ucbs are being conducted by the reserve bank

to strength by becoming a scheduled bank in october, 1996 and later a multi state cooperative bank in may, 2001. as there has been spurt in the technology adoption by the urban cooperative banks in india in recent times, thereby inducing the inclusive growth process, i felt that it would be more appropriate if i share my views on the topic “ technology, financial inclusion and the role of urban cooperative banks ” for achieving the inclusive growth in india. importance of ucbs in india, like many other countries in the world, cooperative movement started as a means of ensuring that the poorly equipped citizens have similar advantages that better placed persons were able to command. this was ensured by the pooling in of their individual resources. the principle of mutual aid, which is the basis of cooperative organisation, and the practice of thrift and self - help which sustain it, generate a feeling of self - reliance and empowerment which is of utmost importance in a democratic set up like us. i believe that these are the core objectives for which we are striving for from most of our initiatives of the various developmental projects and programmes. we recognise and are aware of their importance in the entire banking system in expanding the outreach of the system and increasing access to credit. the high power committee on urban cooperative banks constituted by rbi in 1999, has aptly commented that the cooperative credit endeavour was the first ever attempt at micro credit dispensation in india. the type of reach cooperative banks has in our country and the type of customized services they can offer at the local level, the potential is tremendous. but, the question is have we achieved the true potential? the answer to the question in my opinion to a certain extent is negative. the same is evident if we look at the market share of deposits and advances of the scheduled commercial banks ( scbs ), ucbs and rrbs. the scbs share in the total bank deposits has been 92. 1, 93. 0 and 93. 3 per cent in the year 2006, 2007 and 2008 as compared to ucbs 4. 9, 4. 2 and 3. 9 per cent in the corresponding period, displaying a downward trend. the scbs share in the total bank advances has been 93. 2, 94. 0 and 94. 4 per cent in the year 2006, 2007 and 2008 as compared to ucbs 4. 4, 3. 8 and 3. 4 per cent in the corresponding period, again displaying a downward trend. uneven geographical dispersal of ucbs in few