| Saraswat Co-operative Bank Ltd. | |
| Type: | Multi-State Co-operative Bank |
| Location: | Saraswat Co-operative Bank Ltd, Ekanath Thakur Bhawan 953, Appasaheb Marathe Marg, Prabhadevi. Mumbai- 400 025 |
| Industry: | Financial services |
| Products: | Commercial Banking Retail Banking Private Banking Insurance |
| Revenue: | (2022-23)[1] |
| Net Income: | (2022-23) |
| Equity: | (2022-23) |
| Num Employees: | 4,650 (as of March 2023) [2] |
Saraswat Co-operative Bank Ltd. is an urban co-operative banking institution, having its headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India and operating as a co-operative society since 1918.[3] The Founding Members of the society were J.K. Parulkar as chairman, N.B. Thakur as vice-chairman, P.N. Warde as Secretary, and Shivram Gopal Rajadhyaksha as Treasurer.[4]
In 1988, the bank was conferred with the Scheduled status by the Reserve Bank of India. It is the first co-operative bank to provide merchant banking services. It received a permanent license to deal in foreign exchange in 1979. Presently, it has a correspondent relationship in 58 countries covering nine currencies with over 162 banks.
The bank's total business was approximately in the year 2000, and had reached in 2020.[5]
In the last two decades, the bank has witnessed a steady growth in business and has undertaken several strategic business initiatives, such as business process reengineering, and merging and nurturing seven cooperative banks. The bank has relations with VISA International for the issuance of debit cards. It launched RuPay EMV Debit Card in 2013–14. The bank was the first to achieve this milestone in respect of RuPay EMV cards along with the Bank of Baroda.
In 2011, the bank was granted permission for All India Area of Operation by the Reserve Bank of India.
The bank has a network of 284 fully computerised branches and 311 ATMs (Automated teller machine) as on 31 March 2020[5] covering six states viz. Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Goa and Delhi.
From the annual report for financial year 2020–2021, the bank's business is .[6] [7] It was ranked second-best bank in India by The World's Best Banks 2020 survey[8] [9] conducted by the Forbes, an American business magazine.
The Reserve Bank of India had imposed monetary penalties of Rs. 30 Lack in May 2020 for violation of asset classification norms,[10] Rs. 25 Lakh in June 2021 for non-compliance with directions on 'Interest Rate on Deposits' and 'Maintenance of Deposit Accounts'[11] [12] and Rs. 23 Lack in September 2023 on Saraswat Co-operative bank due to contravention of the provisions of the Banking Regulation act and the Central Bank's directions issued on loans and advances to directors, their relatives, and firms/concerns in which they are interested. The bank had renewed a credit facility granted to a borrower company against the RBI's norms, while a director of the bank held the position of an independent director in the borrower company.[13]