Congress hits out at government on PMC bank issue

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 The Congress on Friday voiced concern over the developments related to the Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative (PMC) bank and demanded that the cap of Rs 10,000 placed by the RBI on withdrawals by the account holders should be done away with immediately.

Speaking to mediapersons here, Congress spokesperson Gaurav Ballabh said the account holders should not be harassed for the failures of the RBI.

PMC bank account holders are in distress as the RBI has put a cap of Rs 10,000 on withdrawals over a period of six months. Earlier, it had put a cap of Rs 1,000 in six months, but it was increased after protests by the account holders and criticism of the move.

The PMC bank issue will have a cascading effect on the banking system as many small banks have Fixed Deposit Accounts in this bank, Ballabh said.

When PMC is unable to release money to smaller banks, then more banks will be in trouble in future, said the Congress spokesperson.

Questioning why the cap has been put if the bank has a deposit of Rs 615 crore, he said, "This is complete and systematic failure of the regulator RBI... What was RBI doing and why did they not act on time?"

Ballabh claimed that the PMC has given a personal loan to the tune of Rs 96 crore to the stressed real estate company HDIL and asked, "at whose behest has the money been given to HDIL?"

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