Rapid growth of the sector  In the period of 15 years, between 1991 and 2004, the UCB sector had witnessed unprecedented growth. From 1306 urban cooperative banks in 1991, the number of banks increased to 1926 in the year 2004, representing a growth of 47 percent i.e.
620 banks were added in 15 years (not counting for the banks that collapsed in that period). As against this, in the previous 25 years i.e. between 1966 and 1991 only 200 new banks had come up.