Why you must protect your bank deposits and how to go about it
We look at banks as safekeepers of our money, which they are. The banking system in India is generally robust. As long as you keep your money with a leading bank, your money is safe. However, on paper, your money is safe up to ₹5 lakh per bank, which is known as deposit insurance. This insurance is taken care of by Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC). With the latest cooperative bank failure, there are talks of increasing the coverage from ₹5 lakh to, say, ₹10 lakh.
In 1962, the deposit insurance limit was ₹1,500. It went up in stages and, in 1993, it was increased to ₹1 lakh. In February 2020, it was raised to ₹5 lakh, where it stands currently. The insurance premium— you don’t have to pay, the bank pays it—was 5 paise per ₹100 in 1962. It has moved up to 12 paise now. As of March 2024, the number of banks covered by DICGC is 1,997, including 140 commercial banks (the usual ones where we keep our money) and 1,857 cooperative banks.
As of March 2024, 97.8% of the total number of deposit accounts (2.898 billion) are fully insured. Of the total assessable deposits of ₹218 lakh crore, 43.1% were insured. To put this in perspective, one person can have multiple bank accounts. Hence, there are 289.8 crore deposit accounts in India for a population of about 144 crore. The extent of coverage, as a percentage of total deposits of ₹ 218 lakh crore, is less than half, 43.1%, because of the limit of ₹ 5 lakh. For smaller deposits, up to ₹ 5 lakh, the entire component is covered. Larger deposits, higher than ₹5 lakh, are partially covered. The ratio of insured deposits to assessable deposits is higher for cooperative banks (63.2%) than commercial banks (42%), as the deposit size in cooperative banks is
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