The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) draft guidelines on ‘on-tap’ licensing of Urban Co-operative Banks (UCBs) have set a high eligibility threshold, leaving only three cooperative institutions in the country that currently satisfy the key deposit criterion. According to an analysis by Indian Cooperative, Buldana Urban Co-operative Credit Society, Lokmanya Multipurpose Co-operative Society, and Repco Bank (Repatriates Cooperative Finance and Development Bank Ltd.) are the only cooperative institutions with deposits exceeding the RBI’s prescribed threshold of Rs 10,000 crore. While Buldana Urban and Lokmanya are prominent credit cooperative societies registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002, Repco Bank, headquartered in Tamil Nadu, was established on November 19, 1969, and is also registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act. It, too, meets the deposit eligibility criterion laid down in the draft guidelines. However, the RBI has clarified that merely fulfilling the eligibility conditions will not guarantee a banking licence.