The Reserve Bank said that the minimum capital requirements for cooperative banks will soon go up to as much as 3 crore rupees from the present 15 lakh rupees. RBI Executive Director S Karuppasamy gave this information in Mumbai on Thursday. He said that depending on the location and area RBI is coming up with the guidelines for cooperative banks. There will be liberal norms for setting up a bank in backward areas and slightly tougher norms in the banked areas,

He said under the existing norms, a cooperative bank can be set up with a minimum capital of 15 lakh rupees which will now be increased to 50 lakh rupees for banks in the backward areas and 3 crore rupees for urban areas which already have banking infrastructure.