Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said she will speak with Reserve Bank governor Shaktikanta Das to expedite the process for withdrawal of money by customers of the PMC Bank.
“I shall talk to the RBI governor and convey the sense of urgency and distress that the clients of PMC Bank have expressed before me and I shall request him to expedite the clearing of or giving permission for withdrawal of their monies which are deposited,” she said.
The RBI recently came down hard on the Punjab & Maharashtra Co-operative Bank (PMC) for under-reporting bad loans. Depositors, the RBI said, can withdraw just Rs 1,000 in the next six months, leaving them in the lurch ahead of the festival season. The central bank later increased the cash withdrawal limit to Rs 10,000 per account.
At the press conference, Sitharaman said secretaries from the department of financial services and economic affairs will be meeting a deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) soon to look into the 'shortcomings' of the functioning of multi-state cooperative banks and see if any amendments can be made to the laws.
Just before her press conference, the Union minister faced irate depositors of Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank, and promised to bring in legislative changes for upholding of their interests.
The depositors had gathered outside the BJP's office in Mumbai ahead of Sitharaman's scheduled press interaction in the run up to the October 21 Maharashtra Assembly elections.
Talking about the meeting between the secretaries of the finance ministry and deputy governor of the RBI, Sitharaman said, 'They will discuss legislative steps needed to prevent such incidents from happening and empower the regulator better.'
The BJP-led government will bring in a legislation to this effect in the winter session of Parliament, she said.
PMC is in bad health allegedly due to its exposure to the near bankrupt realty player HDIL, to which it had loaned over 70 per cent of its Rs 9,000 crore in advances.
She also told the irate depositors that the RBI is looking into the matter.
