RBI raises PMC withdrawal limit to `50,000

Mumbai, Nov. 5: The RBI on Tuesday enhanced the cash withdrawal from the scam-hit PMC Bank to `50,000 per account. This is the fourth increase in withdrawal limit since the bank was placed under its direct control with an administrator on September 23. Since then as many as nine depositors have lost their lives including a 74-year-old man from Thane on Monday. The RBI also allowed the depositors of the bank to withdraw from the bank’s own ATMs within the prescribed limit of `50,000.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday raised the withdrawal limit for account holders of crisis-hit Punjab and Maharashtra CoOperative Bank (PMC Bank) to Rs 50,000 from the earlier limit of Rs 40,000. With the higher limit, more than 78 per cent of the depositors of the bank will be able to withdraw their entire account balance, the RBI said in a statement.

“The RBI after reviewing the bank’s liquidity position and its ability to pay its depositors has decided to further enhance the limit for withdrawal to Rs 50,000 inclusive of Rs 40,000 allowed earlier,” the RBI said in a statement.

The RBI has also allowed PMC Bank account holders to withdraw money from the bank's own ATMs within the prescribed limit of Rs 50,000. “This is expected to ease the process of withdrawals,” RBI added.

This is the fourth time that the regulator has increased the withdrawal limits since it clamped down on the bank on September 23 and capped withdrawal limit at Rs 1,000 per customer for six months.

Meanwhile, angry PMC Bank account holders held a dharna outside the central bank’s office at Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai asking it to apprise them on a daily basis on the developments taking place in the PMC Bank case.