At long last the RBI has come to the rescue of the beleaguered Punjab Maharashtra Co-operative Bank (PMC) by granting an ‘in principle’ approval to 2 financers, Centrum Financial Corporation and Bharat Pe, to set up a Small Finance Bank (SFB) to be merged with PMC bank.
This comes as a god-send and a big relief for the 9 lakh depositors of PMC bank who have their life savings in fixed deposits, locked up for almost 2 years.
A few of the depositors have unfortunately ended their life in desperation, while many are still struggling to make a living.
However, it is still not sure whether the hapless depositors will get back all their money, or part of it, and how long will they have to wait after the new amalgamated bank starts functioning.
For this to happen, the finance companies are given a time frame of 120 days to draw up a plan of how they propose to function, in addition to meeting all the stringent requirements of the RBI.
Only after this they will be granted a license to start operations. Surely by any reckoning, the 2 financers will not let go of this golden opportunity and rare privilege gifted by the RBI, realising that they are both non-banking finance corporations that only give loans and receive deposits, but don’t offer savings and current account services.
Until then, one can only hope for a smooth sailing and a speedy return of depositors’ money.
