Depositors in failed and liquidated banks will get only up to ₹1 lakh as insurance cover, regardless of the amount in their accounts, according to the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of India.

This covers savings, fixed, current and recurring accounts, said the DICGC, which insures bank deposits, in response to a Right to Information (RTI) query filed by PTI.

“Under the provisions of Section 16 (1) of the DICGC Act, 1961, if a bank fails/gets liquidated, the DICGC is liable to pay to each depositor through the liquidator, the amount of his deposit up to ₹1 lakh as insurance cover, for both principal and interest amount held by him in the same right and same capacity at all branches of a bank taken together,” it said.

PMC Bank fraud

Asked whether there is any proposal or move under consideration to raise the limit in the wake of the PMC Bank fraud, the DICGC said: “The corporation does not have the requisite information.”

The corporation covers all commercial banks, including branches of foreign banks functioning in India, local area banks, and regional rural banks. All eligible cooperative banks, as defined in Section 2(gg) of the DICGC Act, are also covered by the deposit insurance scheme.

“Each depositor in a bank is insured up to a maximum of ₹1 lakh as on the date of liquidation/cancellation of bank’s licence, or the date on which the scheme of amalgamation/merger/reconstruction comes into force,” said the DICGC.

The response assumes significance with numerous instances of banks becoming victim of frauds, putting at risk the savings of people. On September 24, the RBI imposed operational curbs on Maharashtra-based PMC Bank and appointed an administrator following detection of alleged financial irregularities.

According to the Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW), the PMC Bank management, in cahoots with a business family, allegedly concealed huge loan defaults by HDIL Goup firms.

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