Allahabad Bank said on Thursday that it has sought a clarification from the RBI on whether it can collect public deposits on behalf of the West Bengal Government-promoted Safe Savings Scheme.
The bank had on Wednesday issued a statement claiming that the West Bengal Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation, a financial services company promoted by the State Government, had included its name as one of the bankers for accepting under the Safe Savings Scheme without its consent.
“Such schemes have to be in accordance with RBI’s guidelines. Moreover, we need consent from RBI to know if we can participate in such a programme or not. Clarifications have been sought from the RBI. We are awaiting a response (from them),” Shubhalakshmi Panse, CMD, Allahabad Bank said.
According to Panse, the bank was not sure if a non-banking finance company (NBFC) such as WBIDFC can raise public deposits through banks. “We do not know what happens to the deposit because it will not remain with us,” she said. WBIDFC had come out with an advertisement inviting application money from the general public requesting them to deposit it at any branch of these four banks in West Bengal.
The Safe Deposit scheme was proposed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamamta Banerjee, after several people were duped in the Saradha scam.