This page is informational and is not legal advice. It describes rules, orders and rulings as published or reported on the dates shown; read the primary text before relying on any of it.
A state co-operative bank, abbreviated StCB, is the apex co-operative bank of a state. It sits at the top of the short-term co-operative credit structure, above the district central co-operative banks and below NABARD, which refinances it.
For a depositor the classification carries two consequences.
It is a bank, so the deposits are insured. DICGC cover extends to state, central and primary co-operative banks up to ₹5,00,000 per depositor, principal and interest together. A society in the same state offering an identical-looking daily-deposit account is not covered at all.
It answers to the Reserve Bank. RBI's Master Directions on Fraud Risk Management, issued in July 2024, apply expressly to urban co-operative banks, state co-operative banks and central co-operative banks together. Where an StCB or its district banks use agents to collect deposits at the door, that supervision reaches the conduct of the collection, not only the balance sheet.
The Ministry of Cooperation's PACS computerisation project routes village societies to NABARD "through State Cooperative Banks (StCBs) and District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs)", which is the clearest official statement of where the tier sits in practice.