Bank deposit insurance cover increased to Rs 5 lakh, refund in 90 days

New Delhi : Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has announced that the government has increased the bank deposit insurance cover from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. The amount will be refunded to the depositor within 90 days in case anything happens to the bank.

"Earlier there used to be a bank deposit insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh for the deposit of the same amount or more under the 'Deposit Insurance Credit Guarantee Scheme'. It took nearly 10 years. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, he had written to the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to extend this limit to Rs 5 lakh. The then government did not do it," new agency ANI quoted Goyal as saying.

"Now, if a person faces any problem or setback for all of his deposits in a bank, and if the bank is incapable of returning the deposit, then the depositor will get a refund of Rs 5 lakh," he added.

Apart from this, he assured that the depositors money will be refunded within the 90 days limit.

"The most important thing is that earlier it used to take nearly 10 years, now it has been ensured that the day on which the Reserve Bank of India decides to shut down the bank, the sum of Rs 5 lakh will be refunded to the depositors' account within 90 days of the closure of the bank," he said.

Earlier, the Parliament in August had already passed the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2021.