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fixed deposits

Photo by Raju Shelar

Untitled Carousel ‘Allow PMC customers to withdraw Rs 1 lakh’ National bank depositors’ association says account holders should not be made to suffer.

Reserve Bank of India

Untitled Carousel Rs 2,500-cr exposure to HDIL pulled PMC bank down A single account is responsible for the downfall of the Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank, which was launched in a tiny room in Sion Koliwada back in 1984 and grew into a 137-branch network with more than half of its branches in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

Dhapu and her husband Mohan Jain have invested their life savings of Rs 1 lakh in FDs in PMC bank

RTGS transactions

L to R: Vicky Lamba, Vijay Upal, Ashok Bhatt

MIG 21

Untitled Carousel Account-holders in City Co-op Bank hit hard too after PMC bank crisis Customers were hoping the ailing City Co-operative Bank will merge with the PMC Bank.

Byand72-year-old Dhapu Jain and her daughter-in-law were among hundreds of depositors who rushed to PMC bank branches yesterday, demanding explanations from staff.Among the hundreds of people who thronged the Fort branch of Punjab & Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank were 72-year-old Dhapu Jain and her daughter-in-law Priyal. After getting news of theputting a slew of restrictions on the bank for regulatory lapses, the duo rushed to the bank’s branch in Fort to enquire about their money.Dhapu and her husband, Mohan Jain, 82, had invested a total of Rs 1 lakh in threewith the bank for the past 15 years. With no clarity on what was to become of the money, and no answers from bank officials at the branch, a distraught Dhapu was seen grabbing the neck of her daughter-in-law while screaming at the bank officials, “I should kill her and end my life too! How do we survive when all our money is taken away from us?”Mohan Jain used to exchange tattered notes for a living for 40 years and all his life savings were put in fixed deposits in PMC bank. “It is only in the last 15 years that I managed to save some money, and all of it was put in these FDs. Now we have no idea what to do. We have not been able to eat anything since we heard this news,” said Jain.The couple has four daughters and two sons. One of their daughters passed away, leaving a son behind. The Jains contribute Rs 3,000 a month towards his monthly expenses. They say, this will now become difficult with no access to their money. The elderly couple now lives with their son Dhaval, who works in a sari shop, and daughter-in-law Priyal in Bora Bazaar. “We don’t know what will happen to my parents’ money. They used to support my nephew after my sister passed away, now even that looks difficult,” said Dhaval, adding that the government should provide some clarity to innocent depositors on what will happen to their money to quell their panic.The scene outside the PMC headquarters in Bhandup was similar. Those who rushed into the branches speak for itself the profile of PMC customers - autorickshaw drivers, smalltime businessmen, pensioners and homemakers and the elderly.Those waiting outside the headquarters included one autorickshaw driver, who was anxious about his Rs 10,000 in deposit with the bank; a small-time businessman with an EMI of Rs 60,000 going out from the PMC account, and a homemaker who probably has no other bank account.Theyesterday imposed a slew of restrictions on PMC bank for six months. The main curbs include banning PMC from extending new loans and capping cash withdrawals at Rs 1,000 per customer among others. The RBI did not specify the lapses. The panic grew despite the fact the RBI has said that its actions against the bank should not be construed as cancellation of its banking licence.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------, runs a petrol pump in GTB NagarLamba said he has a current account with the bank, in which he has deposited Rs 8 lakh for the business. “Since I operate this petrol pump for the CNG business I have to doto the bank on daily basis to get CNG supply. I don’t have another bank account. If tomorrow I fail to do the RTGS payment how am I go to get the CNG? The vehicles will queue up in front of our petrol pump and my business is going to get affected too.”, retired Businessman“All my savings are in the fixed deposits with the PMC Bank. My family survives on the interest I earn from these deposits. I have no idea where the next meal will come from now.”,a government servantHe said that his son is turning three and he and his wife were planning to get him admitted in a reputed school. “I have loan installments to pay and whatever little savings we have till now, we put it in PMC bank. This is terrible for us.”,retired from Air ForceSinghal used to work as a maintenance supervisor for. He said that all his fixed deposits, totalling Rs 15 lakh, are with PMC bank.