RBI Penalty Report – 6th April 2026 – Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Urban Cooperative Bank Ltd.

1. Key Details

Regulated Entity: Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Urban Cooperative Bank Ltd., Amravati, Maharashtra
Penalty Amount: ₹1.09 Lakh (Rupees One Lakh Nine Thousand)
Order Date: April 2, 2026 (Inspection Position: March 31, 2025)
Primary Violations:
  • Breach of prudential single counterparty exposure limits for non-SLR investments.
  • Levying charges higher than the prescribed regulatory ceiling on certain NEFT transactions.

2 Root Cause Analysis (RCA)

  • System Parameter Misconfiguration: The Core Banking System (CBS) was likely not updated promptly to reflect the latest RBI circulars regarding maximum permissible caps on NEFT customer charges.
  • Lack of Automated Hard-Stops: The treasury or investment management module lacked real-time, automated hard-stop alerts to prevent trade execution once single-counterparty exposure limits for non-SLR instruments were reached.
  • Oversight Gap: Manual reliance for tracking exposure limits and transaction fee validations, leading to human error and failure to detect the breaches prior to the RBI statutory inspection.

3 Preventive Controls

System-Level Guardrails

Configure CBS parameters to strictly cap NEFT fees. Implement hard system limits in treasury software to block any non-SLR investment that breaches single-party thresholds.

Maker-Checker Framework

Enforce a strict Maker-Checker process for updating any fee structures or limit configurations within the banking software.

4 Lessons Learnt

  • Regulatory Agility is Mandatory: Changes in RBI guidelines (like NEFT fee rationalization) must trigger immediate IT change-management workflows.
  • Automation over Manual Tracking: Relying on manual calculations for complex prudential norms (like non-SLR exposures) introduces high regulatory risk.
  • Proactive Concurrent Audit: Internal and concurrent auditors must specifically test IT parameter configurations and exposure limits regularly, rather than waiting for the annual statutory inspection to uncover them.

RBI Press Release

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