97.7% bank accounts fully insured, but only 46.3% of deposits covered, shows RBI data

Deposit insurance

Insured deposits in India rose 7.11 percent year-on-year to reach Rs 96.7 lakh crore as of September 30, 2024, according to the latest annual report by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The increase was up from Rs 90.32 lakh crore in the corresponding period last year under the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) scheme.

The number of fully insured deposit accounts, which fall within the Rs 5 lakh insurance coverage limit, stood at 286.9 crore, accounting for 97.7 percent of total accounts.

This figure is marginally lower than the 97.9 percent reported a year ago, indicating a marginal decline in the proportion of accounts fully covered.

However, the insured amount itself constituted 46.3 percent of total assessable deposits, a small dip from 47.5 percent the previous year, suggesting that while more deposits are being insured in absolute terms, their share within total deposits is declining.

The Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF), which acts as a reserve to pay out insured sums in the event of a bank failure, grew by a significant 15.2 percent to Rs 2.29 lakh crore as of March 31, 2025, from Rs 1.98 lakh crore in the year-ago period.

The reserve ratio, which is the DIF as a percentage of insured deposits, improved to 2.21 percent as of September 30, 2024, from 2.02 percent a year earlier.

Over the financial year, the DICGC collected Rs 26,764 crore in insurance premiums, registering a 12.1 percent growth.

The rise in insured deposits is aligned with the broader trend of increasing bank deposits in India, which saw an overall growth of 11.7 percent year-on-year in September 2024.

The RBI, meanwhile, has acknowledged last year, the need to review the current Rs 5 lakh insurance coverage cap, with Deputy Governor M Rajeshwar Rao stating that periodic revisions may be necessary to keep pace with inflation and changing depositor profiles.