In one of the major liquidation process, The Mapusa Urban Co-Operative Bank will be finally shutting down its 16 branches out of 24 situated across the state of Goa. The decision of the shutting down of these branches has been taken by the beleaguered entity to reduce the further unwanted expenditure burden.
According to the reports, all the 16 branches of the Mapusa Urban Bank have been operating from the rented premises, and due to no business, the expenditure kept rising resulting in more losses and hence all of them will be shut down by 1st January 2021.
The premises of the remaining Nine are owned by the MUCB and hence it will continue to remain open to assist the depositors for the purpose of liquidation and deposit queries.
When contacted the branch manager revealed that since there is no income and expenditure is kept growing they had to decide to shut down the rented premises.
“With no income, there is a huge expenditure on these branches which were on leased premises and the rent was too much,” said general manager Shailendra Sawant adding that “We have informed the landlords and we are also allowing the purchase of deadstock, there is a lot of furniture, lying in these branches.”
According to the reports, the branches that being shut down are Mapusa City Branch, Anjuna, Siolim, and Mandrem. Extension counters at Tivim, Aldona, Taleigao, St. Cruz, Diwar, Usgaon-Tisk, Curchorem, Sanguem, Margao, Benaulim, Penha De Franca, and Cansaulim.
While the remaining nine owned premises including the main office in Panaji will continue to remain operational.
it may be recalled that the bank with its 24 branches across Goa with the head office situated in Mapusa and 193 staff members in all went into liquidation after the Reserve Bank of India canceled its banking license in April this year. When it shut down, the bank had 1.19 lakh shareholders and 2.48 lakh, depositors.
What Does The Shutting Down of Branches Means For the Depositors?
The depositors had been demanding for the liquidation process to be expedited so that they get their hard earned money deposited in the back as soon as possible. Besides the snail-paced liquidation process, the mounting rents of the counterproductive rented premises were eating into the savings of the depositors and hence the setting down of these premises will stop the draining of funds further.
The depositors are awaiting since 2015 to get back their hard-earned money which is frozen by the bank due to financial curbs enforced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which culminated in the cancellation of the bank’s license this April.
According to the report published by TOI on 31st October 2020 states that out of the 24 branches across Goa, 16 are on rented premises. The continued rentals of these 16 branches, salaries of the staff, electricity bills and other utilities accrue an additional financial burden that the liquidator has failed to act upon and shockingly the process is going on since 2015 without any restrictions.
Financial frauds have become very common nowadays with many backs going into the losses due to the misappropriation done by the board of directors and the huge loans granted to their own relatives without any security. The common man is suffering the blunt of it and losing their hard-earned money. In the case of Mapusa Urban Bank, many depositors are residing abroad and they have not yet claimed their deposits due to various reasons. Till when such a thing will go on?
