THE DEPOSIT INSURANCE AND CREDIT GUARANTEE CORPORATION (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2021

The Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2021 seeks to amend the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation Act, 1961. The proposed amendments aim to provide easy and time-bound access by depositors to their own money even when there are restrictions on banks. Specifically, the bill inserts a new section 18A that enables interim payment to be made by the Corporation to depositors in those banks for whom any direction or prohibition or order or scheme under any of the provisions of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 has been issued, imposing restrictions on depositors in the banks from accessing their deposits. The bill also amends section 15 to enable the Corporation to raise the ceiling on the amount of premium with previous approval of the Reserve Bank of India. Furthermore, it amends section 21 by inserting new sub-sections (3) and (4) therein, providing that the Corporation may defer or vary the receipt of repayments due to it from the insured bank and empowers the Corporation to charge penal interest in case of delay in repayment by the banks to the Corporation. The bill has been introduced in the Rajya Sabha on July 28, 2021, by Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs.