Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi

New Delhi, Mar 31: Banks cannot view or record the valuables customers store in lockers, as doing so would breach banking regulations, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday, ruling out differential insurance coverage based on locker contents.

Sitharaman was responding to a supplementary question raised by Congress MP Namdeo Dasaram Kirsan of Gadchiroli-Chimur during the Lok Sabha Question Hour.

“Sitting and watching the disclosure of a client of what valuables he is going to keep in the locker is a breach of banking rules, and banks wouldn’t do that, so that cannot be a measure for me to decide whether there should be differential coverage,” she said.

The finance minister further explained that standard coverage for locker holders is fixed at 100 times the annual locker rent in the event of any loss. Since banks cannot inspect or evaluate the contents, providing insurance based on the actual value of items stored is impractical.

“For each one of them separately, it is not possible, so it is decided that 100 times is what is given for any loss — if there is a locker-breaking loss or something like that. At the moment, there is nothing before me for any other consideration,” she added.