Mumbai: After the YES Bank mess, the Punjab & Maharashtra Co-operative Bank (PMC) depositors are keeping a close watch on the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
A group of depositors is even considering filing a plea in the Delhi High Court against the RBI and the Union government.
Advocate Vivek Dixit told The Free Press Journal, “If YES Bank’s revival plan goes through, we will move the court against the RBI for discrimination and according preferential treatment.”
He went on to explain that in September the RBI had put curbs on the PMC and the problem is still not sorted out. Many depositors had approached Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the RBI on several occasions, yet they failed to help the depositors.
“At least in the case of YES Bank, the authorities acted faster. If similar speed was shown in the case of PMC, the revival would have been possible.”
Says social activist Dixit, “All this is happening due to negligence of the RBI. The RBI has to answer and also create systems where banks cannot falter.”
A PMC Bank depositor Tanisha Jain said, “This government is giving a preferential treatment to YES Bank and ignoring the plight of the PMC depositors.”
Both Dixit and Jain have accounts in YES Bank as well.
Dixit added, “There were rumours that YES Bank is not in good health. But I never thought it was true. So, I never withdrew my savings.”
However, after the PMC failure, Jain, like many others, has lost trust in the banking system and she withdrew money from her YES Bank account as well.
Elaborating, Dixit said, “It is important that the RBI restores confidence in the banking system by standing with the depositors.”