Fake news haunt Abhyudaya & NKGSB; Chairman & CEO busy fire-fighting

The depositors have withdrawn up to Rs 180 crore in two days as soon as the rumors went viral on social media questioning the financial status of the two leading Urban Cooperative Banks- the Abhyudaya Cooperative Bank and the NKGSB Cooperative Bank.

The viral message reads: “If anyone has their accounts in Abhyudaya bank, transfer all your funds to other banks. Even from NKGSB bank”.

Talking to Indian Cooperative Sandeep Ghandat, Chairman, Abhyudaya Cooperative Bank said, “In the wake of rumors spreading on social media questioning the financial status of the bank, the depositors rushed to different branches of the bank located in Mumbai and withdrew their money.”

“Our employees tried to convince them it’s fake news, don’t take it seriously but they did not listen and demanded their money back”, he added whose bank is counted as the fourth largest UCB in India.

From different branches of the bank depositors have withdrawn up to Rs 140 crore from their savings and other accounts. They have even broken their Fixed Deposits before maturity.

“Now the situation is a little better and the bank has succeeded in convincing the depositors that it was wrong news. Several depositors are re-investing their money back”, Ghandat said with a sense of satisfaction.

Coming to the NKGSB Bank CEO Chintamani Nadkarni said, “The rumors are baseless and its financial status is fine. The auditors of the bank have never been concerned about the safety of depositors’ money. But this fake news has posed several challenges to the bank”, he lamented.

“Depositors had withdrawn up to 40 crore in the wake of the news because they had panicked. We have released the Public Notice in which we ask our members, depositors and others to ignore this baseless news. The bank urges all its customers not to fall prey to such rumours, he said quoting the lines of appeal.

Abhyudaya Cooperative Bank has a business of 17,500 crore and NKGSB Cooperative Bank a total deposit of Rs 7,601 crore. It is said, earlier the same thing had happened with SVC bank, Jalgaon Janata Sahakari Bank and others.

Besides, both the banks have lodged complaints with the cyber cell of Mumbai Police. The news caught up largely because still the depositors of the scam ridden Punjab and Maharashtra Cooperative Bank are struggling to get their money back.