RBI imposes restrictions on PMC Bank, depositors can’t withdraw more than Rs 1K

Agencies
September 24, 2019

Mumbai, Sept 24: Dealing a pre-festival season blow to lakhs of unsuspecting customers, the Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday barred the Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) Bank Ltd from carrying out a majority of its routine business transactions for a six-month period.

The move sent panic waves among the depositors, investors and the city's banking and business circles of the PMC Bank which ranks among the top 10 cooperative banks in the country.

In a terse communique issued late on Monday, RBI Chief General Manager Yogesh Dayal said as per the apex bank's directions, depositors cannot withdraw more than Rs 1,000 from their savings/current/other deposit accounts, leading to huge chaos outside the PMC branches in Mumbai and other parts of India.

Described as a multi-state cooperative banking entity founded in 1984 from a small room in Mumbai, the PMC Bank has grown to 137 branches - in Maharashtra (103), Delhi (6), Karnataka (15), Goa (6), Gujarat (5), and Madhya Pradesh (2).

As per the RBI sanctions, the PMC Bank is debarred for six months from granting, renewing any loans and advances, make any investments, incur any liability, including borrowal of funds or accept fresh deposits, etc, without the prior written approval from RBI.

The RBI has also restricted it from disbursing, agreeing to disburse any payment, whether in discharge of its liabilities and obligations or otherwise, enter into any compromise or arrangements and sell, transfer or otherwise dispose of any of its properties or assets except as notified in the RBI notification of Monday.

Hoping to assuage the customers' sentiments, PMC Bank's Managing Director (MD) Joy Thomas said the bank had been put under regulatory restrictions by the RBI owing to irregularities disclosed to the apex bank.

"As the MD of the Bank, I take full responsibility and assure all the depositors that these irregularities will be rectified before the expiry of six months," Thomas told the bank's distressed customers.

He said that it was a difficult time for all, but urged the people to cooperate, even as the police were deployed outside many branches in the city to avert any untoward incidents.

As per the PMC Bank's latest Annual Report, it has deposits of over Rs 11,617 crore and loans/outstandings of Rs 8,383 crore.

Confusion reigned supreme outside many of the PMC Bank branches in Mumbai, Thane and other cities as depositors - mostly MSMEs and ordinary families - made a beeline to get their monies back, but were not allowed.

"We are completely ruined. We have no money at home for even basic needs. They should allow us to withdraw more or close down our accounts," a weeping woman customer told mediapersons outside the branch in Bhandup.

Another customer in Borivali said the RBI should penalize the bank management for any irregularities instead of blocking customers' accounts.

"This Rs 1,000 limit is ridiculous. We have to make purchases for Navratri, Diwali, pay our children's educational fees and other household expenses. How can we manage ?" the fuming man asked.

Former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya said he was informed of the regulatory orders against the PMC Bank and has raised the issue with the RBI and the Ministry of Finance in the interests of the customers.

"@PMC_Bank says they are under 35A of BR by the @RBI and the thing is I have all my savings stuck in that bank and they say I cannot withdraw my money now.. What do I do.. People here have all their savings in the bank and the bank says they can't help," customer Avinash Sharma tweeted.

Another customer Praful Shah tweeted: "#PMCBank. Its nothing but bankruptcy. My 25 lakhs, saved for daughters' marriages, are now trapped. My lifetime saving getting washed out overnite. Feeling sad."

Comments

kushal kumar
 - 
Wednesday, 25 Sep 2019

  1. According  to  news  reports  ,  RBI  announced  on  24  September  ,  2019  restrictions  on  the  Punjab  &  Maharashtra  Cooperative  ( PMC )  Bank  from  carrying  out   a  majority  of  its  routine  transactions  for  a  period  of  six  months.  Obviously  ,  the  RBI  move  while  being  well  intentioned  ,  has  put  customers  in  a  very  tight  position,  disabling  them  from  carrying  on  their  life  as  usual  for  no  fault  on  their  part  as  they  may  not  be  able  to  withdraw  more  than  rupees  one  thousand  during  the  restriction  period.  In  this  context  ,  it  may  be  apt  to  refer  readers  to  this  Vedic  astrology  writer’s  predictive  alert  through  article  - “  World  trends  in  April  to  August 2019”  -  brought  to  public  domain  widely  in  March  and  subsequently  on  5 April  2019.  The  predictive  alert  had  said  that  during  a  period  of  four  and  a  half  months  from  mid-April  to  August 2019  ,  among  other   countries  specified  in  the  article  ,  more  care  and  appropriate  strategy    may  be  called  for    in  India  also  in  relation  to  the  following :-

    “ 1. Economic  and  financial  aspects  may  reflect  major  worrisome  concerns.”

    A  review  of  the  predictive  alerts  carried  out  by  this  writer  in  May  2019  had  suggested  that   such  need  for  more  care  and  appropriate  strategy   may  reach  out  to  mid-October  ,  while  the  period  from  about  7  August  to  9 October  could  be  particular.  And  within  that  period  ,  25  September  to  9 October  in  2019  looked  to  be  more  particular.  It  seems  that  announcement  of  RBI  on  24  September  2019  can  be  counted  as  meaningfulness  of  the  predictive  alert. 

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News Network
May 25,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, May 25: About 100 people, including a Magistrate and some police personnel, have been asked to go into quarantine after an accused, who was produced before a lower court here following his arrest, later testedpositive, officials said on Monday. The accused, who was arrested along with two others in connection with a case relating to illicit liquor transportation two days ago, had been shifted to thePoojapura central jail after he was remanded to judicial custody.

With his sample testing positive on Sunday, theman has been sent to a designated COVID-19 hospital. The Nedumangad court magistrate, before whom he was produced, 34 police personnel, including a circle inspector, who were on duty at the Venjaramoodu police station when the accused was broughtafter his arrest, some employees of a government hospital where his swab sample was taken and 12 officials of thePoojapura central jail have gone into quarantine, police sources said.

. Meanwhile, Malayalam film actor Suraj Venjaramoodu and Vamanapuram MLA D K Murali (CPI) are under self-imposed quarantineas they had attended a function in which the circle inspector had taken part.

Two days ago, a car in which illicit liqour was being transported had hit a policeman and sped away, but people managed to stop the vehicle and the three accused, who were in an inebriated state, were arrested, sources said.

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Agencies
April 23,2020

More and more Indians have become better prepared in the last one month, as far as stocking of their ration, medicine or money is concerned, according to the IANS-CVoter COVID-19 Tracker.

With the second leg of the lockdown half way through and Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying it's a long haul, 57.2% respondents said they have less than three weeks of stock while 43.3% said they have a stock that will last beyond that

However, if one breaks into weeks, most respondents said they are prepared for a week's time. 24.5% respondents said they have ration, medicine or money to last a week. This is closely followed by 21.9 % respondents saying they are ready for a month.

Meanwhile, 20.4 % said they are ready for a couple of weeks. There are 15.8 % who said they are ready for more than a month with food, ration and medicine. A tiny 5.6 % said they are ready with three weeks of stock.

However, there is 12.3% who still seem to live on the edge with less than a week's preparation.

But, the biggest takeaway from the IANS-CVoter COVID-19 Tracker is that in the last one month, a massive segment of society realised that the fight is long and the preparation should also be to last that long.

o put things into context, on March 16 when the tracker started, a whopping 77.1% said they have stock to last for less than a week. More than a month later on April 21, that number jumped to just 12.3%, which essentially means, people have become better prepared for a long-hauled lockdown period.

Similarly, on April 21, a sizable 21.9% respondents claimed they are ready with ration and medicine that will last them a month. On March 16, not even one respondent could claim they have a month's stock. In fact till March 22, just ahead of the announcement of the first lockdown, no respondent the IANS-CVoter tracker said that they have a month's preparation.

Similarly, when the tracker started, 9.9% said they simply ‘don't know'. As on April 21, that number is a big zero.

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Agencies
June 5,2020

Malappuram, Jun 5: A lawyer has filed a complaint with Superintendent of Police, Malappuram against BJP leader Maneka Gandhi and others for allegedly indulging in a hate campaign against Malappuram district and its residents.

Advocate Subhash Chandran, who hails from Malappuram, on Thursday filed a complaint seeking registration of FIR against former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi and others for allegedly indulging in a hate campaign against Malappuram and the residents of the district.

The complainant alleged that the campaign against the district was very derogatory and with a malafide intent.

The complaint stated that the unfortunate death of an elephant in Mannarkkad, Palakkad District dominated social media conversations in the last two days but a group of people deliberately added communal colour into it only to spread hatred against Malappuram, which is a Muslim majority district in Kerala.

It also stated that the elephant in question died on May 29, 2020, in Palakkad not in Malappuram as claimed by a section in social media users. Prominent news outlets operating from the South also reported that the elephant died after consuming explosive-laden pineapple in Palakkad.

The complaint also named political commentator, Tarek Fatah, for allegedly starting a hate campaign against the district and the minority community.

It alleged that Union Minister Maneka Gandhi made false and frivolous allegations against the district of Malappuram and its residents.

Chandran, through the complaint, prayed to the district police chief to register an FIR against Maneka Gandhi and others under Section 153A, 120B etc. of Indian Penal Code.

An elephant had died after she ate the pineapple stuffed with crackers and forest officials said that it died standing in river Velliyar after it suffered an injury in its lower jaw.

The elephant was seen standing in the river with her mouth and trunk in the water for some relief from the pain after the explosive-filled fruit exploded in her mouth.

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