“Understanding the concern of the poor, understanding the concern of the middle class, we increased guaranteed amount to Rs 5 lakh” says PM at Depositors First: Guaranteed Time-bound Deposit Insurance Payment up to five lakh rupees”
By Andalib Akhter
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said that government intended to introduce uniformity in the banking system for everyone instead of catering to a reserved section of the society.
He said, financial empowerment is ultimate goal and government will ensure to scale it to new heights with dynamic reforms for the common man.
He enhanced financing system and various reforms have been introduced in the last seven years to benefit the poor and middle-class individuals.
Speaking at the Depositors First: Guaranteed Time-bound Deposit Insurance Payment up to five lakh rupees” programme in New Delhi, Mr Modi said, government has always kept the interest depositors first.
“In the last few days, more than one lakh depositors have got their money back that was stuck for years. This amount is more than Rs 1300 crore”, PM said.
Prime Minister said, government has increased the Cap of deposit Insurance from one lakh rupees to five lakh rupees for depositors to build a sense of trust among them. He said, the increased amount is a sense of security to the depositors, in case any bank faces a financial crunch.
Mr Modi said, guaranteed time-bound deposit insurance payment of up to 5 lakh rupees will cover almost 98 per cent of the depositors accounts. He said, with this the government has insured more than 76 lakh crore rupees of the depositors.
He said, increased depositors’ amount is a landmark reform in the financial system. Prime Minister said, earlier there was no time limit for refund. He said, now the government has made it mandatory that within 90 days, depositors will get their money back
Mr Modi said, banks play a major role in the prosperity of the country and for the prosperity of the banks, it is equally important for the depositors’ money to be safe. He noted that over the years, by merging many small public sector banks with large banks, their capacity, capability and transparency have been strengthened in every way.
Prime Minister said, the facility of a bank branch or a banking correspondent has reached within a radius of 5 Kilometre in almost every village of the country. He added that today, the common citizen of India is able to do even the smallest transactions digitally anytime, anywhere, 24 hours a day.
He said that measures taken in the last few years have taken the facilities like insurance, bank loans and financial empowerment to a large underserved segment of the poor, women, street vendors and small farmers.
Speaking on the occasion, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi government has shown a commitment to the depositors. She said, depositors and their interest has been kept high on agenda. Mrs Sitaraman said, today is an important day for depositors and banking history of the country.
Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das said, depositors first is the guiding philosophy of RBI in all its actions and policies. He said, deposit Insurance facility in the country has come a long way. Mr Das said, the payment of the deposit insurance amount should be seen as the last resort.
He said, depositors also need to be discerning and they should keep in mind that higher rates of interest are usually associated with higher risk. RBI is always proactive to straighten all guidelines to protect depositors interest.