As many as 81,501 depositors of two failed cooperative banks of the state on Sunday received Rs70.56 crore towards payment of their insured deposits of under Rs1 lakh.
The payment was made by Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC).
The 81,501 depositors who were refunded their deposits on Sunday include those who had deposited more than Rs1 lakh in the failed banks but, under the rules, only Rs1 lakh out of their deposits was insured.
There are 1,682 such depositors in one bank alone whose money is still trapped in the bank. Besides these, the deposits of members of the same family were clubbed and if the total exceeded Rs1 lakh, then under the rules, the family received only Rs1 lakh.
The Ahmedabad People’s Co-operative Bank and The Surat Mahila Nagarik Cooperative Bank Ltd have been under liquidation for nearly one year.
The liquidation officer of Ahmedabad People’s Cooperative Bank had submitted to the DICGC a claim of around Rs 45.44 crore for 36,992 depositors with less than Rs1 lakh deposit in the bank. Out of that, the authority approved a claim of Rs 44.51 crore. The DICGC also clubbed around 141 depositors’ account.
Customers who had deposited more than Rs1 lakh in the Ahmedabad People’s Cooperative Bank are not covered under the deposit insurance scheme as per the rules of cooperative banking sector. Around Rs23 crore of 1,682 such depositors are, therefore, still trapped in the bank.
The liquidator of the Surat Mahila Nagarik Cooperative Bank, on the other hand, had submitted a claim of around Rs26.37 crore for Rs44,619 depositors. Out of the amount claimed, around Rs26.05 was granted by the DICGC. However, around Rs61.37 lakh belonging to depositors of this bank are still stuck because of the bank’s liquidation status.
The check distribution ceremony was organised in Ahmedabad on Sunday in the presence of chief minister Narendra Modi, agriculture and co-operative minister Dilip Sanghani, agriculture and co-operative minister of state Parbat Patel, Surat MP Darshana Jardosh along with officials of the state’s cooperatives department.
The officials of the cooperatives department were given only 72 hours to organise the function because notification for the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation elections could take place any day. After that, all such public programmes will be barred under the model code of conduct for elections.
In his address, the chief minister blamed vested interests for scams in the cooperative banking sector.
“The DICGC should insure the amount as per the premium paid on deposits instead of fixing a sealing of Rs1 lakh,” he said. “We had made a representation for this to the central government but in vain.” He also blamed the management of cooperative banks for nepotism in recruitment and in giving credit.
Dilip Sanghani, minister of agriculture and cooperatives, said that shareholders need to be more active and vigilant. They should ask questions about the bank’s performance during the annual general meeting, he said.
