The government is discussing a proposal to double the insurance cover on bank deposits to Rs 2 lakh and an announcement to this effect may be made in the February 1 budget, said several people with knowledge of the matter. The move comes after the government and the RBI faced flak over their handling of the closure of Punjab & Maharashtra Co-operative Bank (PMC).

Depositors in failed and liquidated banks will get only up to Rs.1L as insurance cover, regardless of the amount in their accounts, according to the DICGC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of India. This covers savings, fixed, current and recurring accounts, the DICGC, which insures all bank deposits, said in response to a Right to Information (RTI) query filed by PTI.

The Public Relations Officer of Delhi's AIIMS Arti Vij has said that Rs.12 crore has been stolen from accounts of the institute using fake cheques. Few incidences were prevented in time when SBI officials contacted AIIMS authorized signatories to verify cheques before payments, she added. We've brought the fraud to the notice of SBI and Delhi Police, she further said.