NABARD or National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development is aiming to develop a common core banking platform for rural cooperative banks. The rural co-ops are lagging behind considerably in comparison to commercial peers in the move towards adopting modern banking facilities.

The bank is even looking into the idea of introducing a subsidiary wing which would solely look in this arena.

"Our effort aims at creating a level-playing field for cooperative banks in terms of modern banking solution. Except for some stray attempts , most of these banks do not have a CBS platform," Nabard executive director Prakash Bakshi said.

The rural cooperative bank pyramid in India is multi levelled with 31 state cooperative banks reigning at the top followed by 370 central cooperative banks spread in small towns and interiors.

"As we would aggregate the demand for CBS, the cost of engaging a service provider and building data centres will get reduced ," Mr Bakshi said.

The bank has started its hunt for appointing a COO for this drive.