Mumbai: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today (Jul 26, 2004) said that it is open to hiking the ceiling on permitted withdrawals from the current limit of Rs 10,000 for depositors of Global Trust Bank (GTB), which has been placed under a three-month moratorium.

Asked about the demand from depositors to raise the limit, RBI executive director Usha Thorat said, "Nothing prevents us from hiking the limit at a later date."

RBI has kept the ceiling on permitted withdrawals upto Rs 10,000 to ensure that GTB branches are able to take care of demands from most of the depositors, Thorat said.

However, there is no limit on withdrawals for emergency purposes like medical treatment or education. RBI would definitely consider requests for emergency withdrawals beyond Rs 10,000, she said.

The depositors would have to approach their respective branches, which would forward their application to the GTB head office, she said adding, this would be then sent to the RBI office in Hyderabad, which would take the decision for allowing the withdrawal.

The RBI had allowed a withdrawal upto Rs one lakh in earlier instances of moratorium, she said.

On salary accounts maintained with GTB, RBI said that they would also come under the permitted withdrawal limit but GTB management is speaking to employers to make other arrangements.