The moratorium on Global Trust Bank and its subsequent shotgun wedding with the Oriental Bank of Commerce "in the interest of GTB's customers" has put the bank's customers in a piquant situation. So what can they do to tide over liquidity problems -- beyond the Rs 10,000 that they can get?

The first thing to do is to open an account in another to take care of immediate needs.

The Global Trust Bank Crisis: Complete Coverage

Many of the private sector banks have seized the opportunity to offer special loans to GTB customers, obviously in the hope of capturing the client:

• ICICI Bank offers personal loans to salaried customers at a lower rate of interest of 14 per cent for twice the monthly net income (lower because the personal loan rates are normally in the 18 per cent range);
• Centurion Bank offers a similar scheme but at a more competitive rate of 12 per cent;
• IndusInd Bank follows ICICI Bank's footsteps and offers the personal loans at 14 per cent;

These banks are also looking at offering special products for the small-and-medium enterprises;

Those expecting dividend cheques will have to write to the issuing companies to change their automatic deposit facility to another account number. Cheques drawn in the name of GTB accounts are not automatically deposited under the electronic clearing system.

Corporate entities that have opened letters of credit through GTB will need to make alternative arrangements if their consignment is about to arrive in the country and they do not wish to pay demurrage charges to the customs department.

Corporates are also writing letters to their creditors to ensure that their funds are not frozen in the GTB account. Unfortunately, the RBI is not in a position to stop payment on automatic credits to individual accounts through the electronic clearing system.

Customers may also contact the following RBI officials for assistance:

T B Satyanarayan, general manager (in Mumbai) at 022-22150768 or email: tbsatyanarayan@rbi.org.in

T V Gopalakrishnan, general manager in charge (in Hyderabad) at 040-23234324 or email: tvgopalakrishnan@rbi.org.in