Prime Minister's National Relief Fund should be used to help ailing PMC depositors: Manmohan Singh

In a meeting with PMC Bank depositors in Mumbai, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday has said that the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund should be used to help the ailing PMC bank depositors.

Singh has suggested that the fund should be used to help those people who need money for urgent medical treatments and are unable to secure funds due to the withdrawal ban imposed on the bank by the Reserve bank of India.

On being asked by the troubled lenders' customers about possible solutions to their plight, he said "I would like to urge the Finance Minister of India and the Chief Minister of Maharashtra to look into the matter and help the troubled 16 lakh families and come up with a pragmatic solution."


Talking to the angry depositors who have been unable to withdraw their savings from the bank, Singh said, "I hope the RBI and the finance ministry will use their mind and find a credible solution to the problem. This issue should figure on the agenda of the parliament in the fort-coming session."

On September 23, the RBI suspended PMC Bank’s board after noticing major financial irregularities, and capped withdrawals at Rs 1,000. The withdrawal limit has later been raised to Rs 40,000, after finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman discussed the matter with RBI governor Shaktikanta Das.

Data with the bank show that it has 16 lakh depositors with total deposits of Rs 11,617 crore as on March. More than 60% of its customers had small deposits of around Rs 10,000 each in the bank.

Hitting out at the BJP led NDA governments policies, Singh said that the Modi government has failed to deliver the promised double engine engine economic growth. Singh, was speaking at a meeting organised with PMC depositors in Mumbai.

"Maharashtra used to be investors paradise now it is the leaders in farmer suicide. Our farmers are caught between low income and high debt trap," Singh added.

Manmohan Singh, who was targeted by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her lecture at Columbia University's SIPA acknowledged that he had heard the remark but would not retaliate. "Before one can fix the economy, one needs the correct diagnosis. This government is fixed on pinning the blame on others," he said.