Narendra Modi to address bank deposit insurance programme today

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the function on ‘Depositors First: Guaranteed Time-bound Deposit Insurance Payment up to Rs 5 Lakh’ on Sunday at noon in Vigyan Bhawan, Delhi. As per an official statement from Prime Minsiter’s Office, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, MoS Finance and RBI Governor will also be present on the occasion. “Deposit insurance covers all deposits such as savings, fixed, current, recurring deposits, etc. in all commercial banks, functioning in India. Deposits in State, Central and Primary cooperative banks, functioning in States/Union Territories are also covered,” said the PMO. “In a path-breaking reform, bank deposit insurance cover was enhanced from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh,” it added. With deposit insurance coverage of Rs 5 lakh per depositor per bank, the number of fully protected accounts at end of the previous financial year constituted 98.1 per cent of the total number of accounts, as against the international benchmark of 80 per cent. The first tranche of interim payments has been released by the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation recently, against claims received from depositors of 16 Urban Cooperative Banks which are under restrictions by RBI. Payout of over Rs 1,300 crore has been made to alternate bank accounts of over 1 lakh depositors against their claims, informed the PMO.