{
 "name": "Co-operative Banks in India (Structure & Urban Co-operative Bank Count)",
 "unit": "number of institutions",
 "dashboard": "https://bankpulse.ai/dashboards/cooperative-banks/",
 "source": "RBI Report on Trend & Progress of Banking in India / RBI Annual Report; NABARD",
 "reviewed_by": "Vikram Jain",
 "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
 "updated": "2026-06-22T00:11:31+05:30",
 "dateModified": "2026-06-22T00:11:31+05:30",
 "method": "Structural counts of co-operative banking institutions and the year-wise number of Urban Co-operative Banks, on an RBI / NABARD framing. Intermediate-year UCB counts are indicative.",
 "note": "Rounded and approximate; NOT in the Verified-numbers ledger pending reviewer sign-off. Two arms: urban (UCBs ~1,457, down from ~1,926 in 2004) and rural three-tier (34 StCBs, ~351 DCCBs, ~96,000 PACS). The Banking Regulation (Amendment) Act, 2020 brought UCBs more fully under RBI supervision (effective 26 June 2020).",
 "structure": [
  {
   "institution": "Urban Co-operative Banks (UCBs)",
   "count_approx": "~1,457",
   "regulator": "RBI + State/Central Registrar",
   "role": "The urban arm — primary co-operative banks serving towns, small businesses and salary earners"
  },
  {
   "institution": "State Co-operative Banks (StCBs)",
   "count_approx": "34",
   "regulator": "RBI + NABARD",
   "role": "Apex of the rural arm — one per state/UT; refinances the tier below"
  },
  {
   "institution": "District Central Co-op Banks (DCCBs)",
   "count_approx": "~351",
   "regulator": "RBI + NABARD",
   "role": "District tier — lends to and oversees the village societies"
  },
  {
   "institution": "Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS)",
   "count_approx": "~96,000",
   "regulator": "Registrar + NABARD",
   "role": "Village base of rural credit — societies, not banks; the last mile of farm lending"
  }
 ],
 "ucb_series": [
  {
   "year": "2004",
   "count": 1926,
   "approximate": true,
   "note": "Peak count; RBI stops issuing new UCB licences and begins a consolidation drive"
  },
  {
   "year": "2010",
   "count": 1674,
   "approximate": true,
   "note": "Mergers, amalgamations and licence cancellations steadily reduce numbers"
  },
  {
   "year": "2015",
   "count": 1579,
   "approximate": true,
   "note": "Vision-document era — weak banks exit, stronger ones absorb them"
  },
  {
   "year": "2020",
   "count": 1539,
   "approximate": true,
   "note": "Banking Regulation (Amendment) Act brings UCBs more fully under the RBI"
  },
  {
   "year": "2025",
   "count": 1457,
   "approximate": true,
   "note": "End-March; the four-tier regulatory framework now in force"
  }
 ]
}