RBI rushes in to stop run on ICICI

“It is clarified that the ICICI Bank has sufficient liquidity ,including in its current account with RBI, to meet the requirements of its depositors,” a statement from the RBI said. “RBI has arranged to provide adequate cash to ICICI Bank to meet the demands of its customers at the branches and ATMs. The bank’s financial position is sound,” RBI said.

The benchmark BSE Sensex fell nearly 4.6 per cent in the past two days after bellwether Infosys Technologies kicked off India’s earnings season on Thursday with a dismal outlook. ICICI Bank officials denied there was any problem.

“We would like to reassure our depositors and customers that ICICI Bank is one of the premier banks in the country and there has been no adverse change in the financial position of the bank,” said Kalpana Morparia, executive director of the bank in a statement.

In Mumbai, it was business as usual at various branches in spite of the rumours. Though a number of customers queued up before the bank’s ATMs this morning, there was no panic for withdrawal of money. “As there were a number of holidays this month, there was a long queue before ATM counters. ATMs might have run out of cash due to the holidays,” said a depositor.

In Delhi, the situation was normal. Though there were queues in front of some ICICI ATMs, they were more due to the holidays.