Do We really bank our money on banks ?

ATMs are closed. Bank branches were shut down. No body to answer the phone calls of discerning depositor. No I am not talking about a closure of a "nidhi" company or a "finance" company. I am talking about a bank. GTB - Global Trust Bank.

Although, i dont have any direct hands-on experience with GTB, i have seen their branches in chennai. Typical private banking environment, gorgeous women sitting in the helpdesks, politely answering branch manager, private security people, branding of deposits, loans etc everywhere. You get the picture of a professionally running organisation, when you are in.

I am not against private banking. The kind of services & respect these banks give, you can never even think in your wildest dreams in the nationalised banks.(There can always be a debate that they also raise their levels..but still i can see the "typical banking" mentality in many of their branches.) By just adding computers & glass windows, customer relationship wont come into the minds of the nationalised banking employees. It's more do with the change of the attitude.

But the hard real fact is out. The have given "misleading" information in their balance sheet. If the same thing has been done by you & me, that is called "forgery". RBI today announces, that the depositors need not worry about their money, and with the news, that the bank will be merged with the Oriental Bank of Commerce or OBC. Whether they merge with the OBC or another bank which is going to take over them is the secondary questions in the mind of the depositor.

This fundamentally raises a lot of questions. All banks both public & private will go under the directives of RBI in India. In such case, how can a bank goes standstill (the RBI says, that GTB is not bankrupt, but dont have enough money to run their capital business) within the restrictions of RBI.

For some of you with short memory, in the Vajpayee government, there were a few Gujrati & Rajastani Co-operative banks went bankrupt. The TV channel shows, tensioned depositors outside the ATMs of GTB and as a routine, there are many real stories about the requirement of money and their plans for their own deposits.

RBI announced that upto 10,000 can be withdrawn from the bank. What if someone has deposited money for their forthcoming monsoon or a marriage or child education. Where is Rs.10,000 for that huge requirement.

Back to the point of GTB, I have a few questions.

1. Why is RBI hasn't taken any strict decision when they know, that GTB provides misleading & inapporiate information ?
2. When the bank knows that they are going to face the doom, why the GTB board hasn't taken any radical decision to correct themselves ?
3. Is the private banking in India has its first ugly showcase ?
4. Are private bankers makes "real money" considering the amount of schemes, loans and the interest rate war they are into ?
5. What is the legal gurantee for a depositor, who is having a relationship with the bank?
6. Why is the GTB board members haven't been arrested yet ?
7. What sort of psychological compensation RBI will provide for the depositors, who has physical ailments with that shocking news?
8. In a country, where the festivals start from August with a monsoon ahead, how much money is locked inside GTB, which can actually make a productive investment?

finally, as an irony, Global trust has lost its trust from their customers.

Globalisation is good, but at the same time, we need to look at the small investor who saves money for his future. Dont' forget India has a strong middle class family background country. In a few months, this issue may go out of the public memory, but we need to learn a lesson from this is that, there is nothing concrete in this world and always be agile to face the unexpected.