The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has raised the withdrawal limit for PMC Bank depositors to Rs 50,000.
After an alleged Rs 4,355 crore scam came to light at the PMC Bank, the RBI initially capped withdrawals at Rs 1,000 in view of the liquidity crisis, and later hiked it to Rs 40,000. Now the limit has been raised to Rs 50,000 per account.
The latest decision taken by RBI comes as a relief for the hapless account holders of PMC Bank who have been thrown into a crisis by the scam-hit bank.
This is the fourth time the regulator has increased the withdrawal limit since it clamped down on PMC Bank on September 23, capping withdrawals at Rs 1,000 per customer, which led to a lot of distress and criticism.
“The RBI, after reviewing the bank’s liquidity position and its ability to pay its depositors has decided to further enhance the limit for withdrawal to Rs 50,000, inclusive of Rs 40,000 allowed earlier,” the banking regulator said in a statement on Tuesday.
With the above relaxation, more than 78 per cent of the depositors of the bank will be able to withdraw their entire account balance.
The RBI has also been decided to allow the depositors to withdraw from the bank’s own ATMs within the prescribed limit of Rs 50,000.
Prasanta Patnaik