More than one lakh depositors have received Rs 1,300 crore of their money that was stuck with stressed banks, announced Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also added that around three lakh more such account holders will receive their deposits soon with the banks that are under the RBI moratorium.
In August, the Parliament passed the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2021 which ensures that account holders get up to Rs 5 lakh within 90 days of the RBI imposing a moratorium on the banks.
This was done keeping the 'Depositors First' spirit in mind, Modi said.
He also said that the ultimate goal of the Centre is 'aarthik sashaktikaran' (financial empowerment) and it has saved banks and provided security to the depositors.
"Smaller banks merged with larger public sector banks to strengthen their capacity, capability, transparency. If banks are to be saved, depositors have to be provided security; we have saved banks, provided security to depositors," he said.
With a deposit insurance coverage of Rs 5 lakh per depositor per bank, the number of fully protected accounts at the end of the previous financial year constituted 98.1% of the total number of accounts as against the international benchmark of 80%.
