The drive for implementing core banking solution (CBS) in urban cooperative banks will hit off this month. The drive will be initiated by Union Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar at the two-day national meet 'Coop Core 2010' beginning in Ahmedabad on December 25.

Through this initiative, it is aimed to provide CBS to more than 7000 branches of 1,674 urban cooperatives banks (UCBs). The upcoming year is expected to see the drive enveloping about,300 UCBs across India, including 50 percent of the 112 UCBs in Gujarat.

Currently, only 80-90 of the big size UCBs have access to this facility, informed H.K. Patil, president of the National Federation of UCBs and Credit Societies Ltd (NUCBCS).