Mumbai: The run on ICICI Bank on April 12 spread to the commercial capital, with anxious customers queuing up before the bank's automatic teller machines (ATMs) despite statements from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and ICICI that it had enough money and rumours that triggered the withdrawals are baseless.

A day after the ICICI Bank ATMs were besieged by customers in Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat and Anand districts of Gujarat on rumours that the bank was facing liquidity problems, the RBI and the ICICI stepped in to scotch rumours that the bank had plunged into a liquidity crisis.

In Mumbai, depositors flocked to the bank's branches and ATMs to withdraw money. At some of the branches police personnel were deployed as a precautionary measure.

In Delhi, a bank's spokesman said the situation was normal and there were no queues of customers flocking to the branches and ATMs to withdraw money.

As panic spread from Gujarat, the RBI and the private sector bank said the bank had sufficient liquidity and was financially sound.

The RBI said it was monitoring the developments and has arranged to produce adequate cash to the bank to meet the demands of the customers at branches and ATMs.

The bank had sufficient liquidity in its current account with the apex bank to meet the requirements of its depositors and the "bank is financially sound", RBI said in a statement.

ICICI Bank executive director Chanda Kochar said the rumours about the bank probably arose out of a confusion over the collapse of some co-operative banks in Gujarat recently.

She said the bank's branches were operating for 12 hours since morning and there was enough cash in ATMs and branches.

"We are making sure that there is no shortage of cash in our branches and ATMs," she said.

A spokesman for the ICICI Bank in New Delhi said it would ensure that all ATMs and its branches have enough cash.

"Though the situation has eased after the RBI announcement this morning (April 12), depositors were still queuing up," he said.

In one of the branches in Borivili in North West Mumbai, depositors, who were given tokens to withdraw money, were asked to come after 2.00 pm (IST), while the ATM withdrawal operations were normal.

The timely arrival of the bank's cash van helped to ease the situation much to the relief of the bank staff. Some customers were also seen depositing money in their accounts.

According to one bank staffer, the pressure on the bank could also be attributed to holidays for the next three consecutive days – Sunday (April 13), Ambedkar Jayanti and Mahavir Jayanti.

The bank had recently introduced 12 hour banking from 8 am to 8 pm at over 140 branches.

PTI