Mumbai: There is good news for 16 lakh scam-hit PMC Bank depositors as the Maha Vikas Aghadi government has shown its desire to speak to RBI for its merger into the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB).
Senior minister Jayant Patil on Thursday said he already has held talks with the MSCB chairman in this regard and added that the government is with depositors and will make all efforts to protect their interests.
PMC Bank had total deposits of Rs 11,617 crore as on March. More than 60% of its customers had small deposits of around Rs 10,000 each in the bank.Patil said, "I spoke to the MSC Bank chairman the day before yesterday.
We have suggested to the MSC Bank to try and merge the PMC bank with it, so that the poorest of its depositors get relief."
He further stated that the government wants to assure the PMC Bank depositors that the government stands with them. The merger of the two banks will definitely help small depositors.
Patil's announcement comes at a time when the troubled PMC Bank has been put under restrictions by the RBI, after an alleged Rs 4,355 crore scam came to light, following which the deposit withdrawal was initially capped at Rs 1,000, causing panic and distress among depositors.
The withdrawal limit has been raised in phases to Rs 50,000. Furthermore, twelve people, including top officials of the PMC Bank and the HDIL, have so far been arrested by the Mumbai Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in connection with the scam.
As far as the MSCB is concerned, it is a Scheduled Bank which provides a wide range of banking services, including Retail & Wholesale Banking, domestic and International remittances and Treasury operations using modern technology.
When contacted, an MSCB spokesman said there has been no concrete proposal thus far; they are hearing news of the PMC Bank’s merger only through media.
As per a MSCB audit report, the bank has total deposits worth Rs 15,839.87 crore and loans and advances of Rs 19,599.54 crore as on March 31, 2019. The bank has reported net profit of Rs 251.35 crore and its net worth is Rs 2,681.89 crore.
