PMC scam: RBI increases withdrawal limit to Rs 40,000 from existing Rs 25,000

In yet another relief to the customers of the scam-hit Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank (PMC), the Reserve Bank on Monday increased withdrawal limits to Rs 40,000.

This is for the third time the RBI has increased the withdrawal limit. At first, it had increased the limit from Rs 1,000 to 10,000 and then to Rs 25,000.

The development comes after finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman assured the customers that the Reserve Bank was looking into the woes of the depositors of the cooperative bank.

“The financial position of the bank has been substantially impaired due to fraud perpetrated on it by certain persons. As soon as the matter came to the notice of the Reserve Bank, action was taken in appointing an administrator and ensuring that the bank’s available resources are protected and not misused or diverted,” the RBI said in a press release.

The move to increase the withdrawal cap to Rs 40,000 has been taken ‘after reviewing the bank’s liquidity position and its ability to pay its depositors’, the Central Bank added.

Earlier in the day, the Enforcement Directorate said it has seized and identified assets worth Rs 3,830 crore in the PMC Bank money laundering case.

The central probe agency said it is valuing a number of properties of Housing Development and Infrastructure Limited (HDIL), its directors, promoters, Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative (PMC) Bank officials and others.

The identified assets will soon be attached under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).