As the urban cooperative banks in the country are aggressive in their merger plans, Reserve Bank of India is considering the merger proposals for 14 more co-operative banks in the industry.

The apex regulator has so far approved merger and acquisition of 68 banks and it is encouraging more banks in the urban co-operative sector to combine together.

According to recent data released by RBI, it was mentioned that ever since the guidelines on mergers of urban cooperative banks were issued in February, 2005, the apex body has received 107 proposals for mergers between 92 banks. The bank informed that out of the requested proposals 68 were given NOC (no objection certificate) in November 2008.

"Twenty proposals for merger were rejected, five proposals were withdrawn by banks and the remaining 14 are under consideration," added the bank.

RBI said that mergers and acquisitions help weak and unviable banks to exit from the industry without any hassle. It gives an inorganic direction to the expansion and facilitates merge process. The apex bank further informed that almost all the banks seek its approval for their merger. RBI gives an NOC after a group of experts examine the proposal.

India has nearly 1,770 urban cooperative banks with majority of them located in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. These banks together have a deposit base of Rs 1,38,000 crore and total advances of Rs 89,000 crore.