Mumbai: It seems each time a depositor of the PMC bank dies, the RBI rushes in with token gestures – mostly involving enhancing of the cap on cash withdrawals.
So, after the media reported the ninth death – this time from Thane -- the RBI lost no time in raising the cash withdrawal limit for account holders to Rs. 50,000 from Rs. 40,000 earlier.
Incidentally, the RBI was also weighed in by the fact that the matter had figured in the High Court on Monday with the court declaring that the RBI must list in an affidavit the steps taken thus far to protest the interests of the depositors.
This may be a tall order as the RBI has done little to mitigate the suffering of the depositors, except enhancing the cash cap, which can hardly bring solace to hundreds who had stashed their life’s savings in the bank.
"The Reserve Bank of India, after reviewing the bank's liquidity position and its ability to pay its depositors, has decided to further enhance the limit for cash withdrawal to Rs. 50,000; this is inclusive of the Rs. 40,000 allowed earlier," the central bank said.
"With the above relaxation, more than 78 per cent of the depositors of the bank will be able to withdraw their entire balance," the RBI added.
It has also allowed PMC Bank account holders to withdraw money from the bank's own ATMs within the prescribed limit. "This is expected to ease the process of withdrawals," the RBI said.
This is the fourth time the regulator has increased the withdrawal limits since it clamped down on the bank on September 23 and capped the withdrawal limit at Rs. 1,000 per customer for six months. Since then, the regulator has opened the PMC purse strings but only to provide relief in infinitesimally small doses.
