The Reserve Bank on Thursday enhanced the withdrawal limits for depositors of the scam-hit Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative Bank to Rs 25,000 from Rs 10,000 per account over the next six months. This is the second time the regulator has increased the withdrawal limits since it clamped down on the bank on September 23 when it had capped it a low Rs 1,000 per customer which led to lot of distress and criticism. Since then PMC, which has among the top 10 cooperative banks with a deposit of over Rs 11,600 crore, is under an administrator appointed by the RBI the past management is being probed by the economic offenses wing of the city police.

"We again reviewed PMC Bank's liquidity position and with a view to reducing the hardship of depositors, have decided to further enhance the limit for withdrawal to Rs 25,000 (during the pendency of the six months operational restrictions on the bank)," RBI said in a statement. With the above relaxation, more than 70 percent of the depositors of the bank will be able to withdraw their entire account balance, the central bank said as most of its account holders have an average balance of just about Rs 10,000. The total retail despot is worth Rs 915 crore.