HDFC Bank clarifies on 'stamping passbooks' to comply with RBI guidelines

The image caught the attention of the netizens amidst apprehensions of the ongoing crisis of the PMC Bank.

The bank issued a statement on its official Twitter account stating, ‘This is with reference to an image of a passbook being circulated via Whatsapp and social media that seems to have caused some concern. This pertains to information about the deposit insurance cover.

We’d like to clarify that the information has been inserted as per RBI circular dated June 22, 2017 which requires all Scheduled Commercial Banks, all Small Finance Banks and Payments Banks to “incorporate information about ‘deposit insurance cover’ along with the limit of coverage upfront in the passbook".

The passbooks without printed information have been stamped with the requisite information so as to be fully compliant with extant RBI guidelines.

A senior official from the Bank later tweeted the same , “ This is further to our twitter post last night w.r.t an image of a passbook being circulated via Whatsapp and social media that seems to have caused some concern.

Current deposit insurance scheme:

The ₹1 lakh limit covers both principal and interest amount.

All deposits maintained by the depositor across all branches of the failed bank are clubbed. Or in other words, if a person keeps deposits in different branches of a bank, they are paid a maximum of up to Rs. 1 lakh only on the aggregate amount.

However, deposits maintained with different banks are not clubbed.

The deposit insurance scheme covers all banks operating in India including private sector, co-operative and even branches of foreign banks in India. There are some exemptions like deposits of foreign governments, deposits of central/state governments and inter-bank deposits.