The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has handed Shirish Chandra Murmu a critical set of portfolios — including regulation, enforcement, communication, and government & bank accounts. With the Department of Regulation now under his purview, Murmu is expected to play a pivotal role in shaping policy and oversight for urban co-operative banks (UCBs) and other cooperative credit institutions.
His appointment as Deputy Governor and the subsequent portfolio reallocation reflect a renewed regulatory focus on transparency, governance, and financial discipline in the cooperative banking sector. Experts see this shift as aligning with recent efforts by RBI to strengthen oversight, streamline guidelines, and bring cooperative banks closer to mainstream regulatory norms.
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Division of Oversight and Continuity in Supervision
While Murmu will handle regulation, communication, and enforcement, Deputy Governor Swaminathan Janakiraman is expected to continue supervising the operations and compliance functions under the Department of Supervision. This division ensures that the monitoring and enforcement arms remain separate, allowing coordinated but independent scrutiny of cooperative banks and other regulated entities.
RBI’s reorganization comes at a time when the central bank is intensifying its emphasis on governance reforms, audit practices, risk assessment, and internal control within co-operative banking bodies. The change signals intent to tighten procedures without unsettling existing regulatory structures.
Implications for Co-operative Banking Sector
With regulatory authority moving into Murmu’s domain, cooperative banks may face sharper policy direction, stricter compliance expectations, and closer scrutiny of their financial health. The change could accelerate reforms in capital adequacy, corporate governance, audit rotation, and IT risk frameworks.
For Murmu, the task will involve balancing proactive regulation with support for grassroots credit institutions. His oversight could recalibrate the cooperative sector’s role in India’s banking landscape — ensuring that cooperative banks are not left behind in structural enhancement, risk mitigation, or access to capital markets.
