Saraswat Co-operative Bank Ltd. is an urban co-operative banking institution, having its headquarters in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and operating as a co-operative society since 1918. 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. In 1988, the bank was conferred with the Scheduled status by the

Reserve Bank of India Reserve Bank of India, abbreviated as RBI, is the central bank of the Republic of India, and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system and Indian rupee, Indian currency. Owned by the Ministry of Finance (India), Min ...

. It is the first co-operative bank to provide merchant banking services. It received a permanent license to deal in

foreign exchange The foreign exchange market (forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. By trading volume, it i ...

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. 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 Business process re-engineering (BPR) is a business management strategy originally pioneered in the early 1990s, focusing on the analysis and design of workflows and business processes within an organization. BPR aims to help organizations fund ...

, and merging and nurturing seven cooperative banks. The bank has relations with VISA International for the issuance of debit cards. It launched

RuPay RuPay (portmanteau of Rupee and Payment) is an Indian multinational financial services and payment service system, conceived and owned by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). It was launched in 2012, to fulfil the Reserve Bank ...

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 Bank of Baroda (BOB or BoB) is an Public sector banks in India, Indian government Public sector bank headquartered in Vadodara, Gujarat. It is the third largest Public sector banks in India, public sector bank in India after State Bank of India ...

. In 2011, the bank was granted permission for All India Area of Operation by the

. The bank has a network of 284 fully computerised branches and 311 ATMs (

Automated teller machine An automated teller machine (ATM) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, funds transfers, balance inquiries or account ...

) as on 31 March 2020 covering six states viz.

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

and

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

. From th
annual report
for financial year 2020–2021, the bank's business is . It was ranked second-best bank in India by The World's Best Banks 2020 survey conducted by the

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

, an American

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for ...

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. The

had imposed monetary penalties of Rs. 30 Lack in May 2020 for violation of asset classification norms, Rs. 25 Lakh in June 2021 for non-compliance with directions on 'Interest Rate on Deposits' and 'Maintenance of Deposit Accounts' 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.

References

{{Banking in India Banks based in Mumbai Banks established in 1918 Cooperative banks of India Indian companies established in 1918