The Vault: Safe-Deposit Lockers
Safe-deposit lockers are rented storage compartments — not deposits — governed by RBI’s significantly revised 2021 framework, phased in through 2023. This guide starts with the most important correction: DICGC’s ₹5 lakh deposit insurance has nothing to do with locker contents, which fall under an entirely separate (and more limited) bank liability framework. We cover what changed under the revised rules — standardised IBA-model agreements with no “unfair terms,” a ban on forcing customers to buy other products (like FDs) as a condition of locker allotment, and branch-wise vacancy transparency. On liability: banks are responsible for losses from fire, theft, burglary, and employee fraud (capped at 100 times the annual rent), but not liable for natural calamities/“Acts of God” absent their own negligence — leaving a meaningful gap that locker-content insurance can address. We cover mandatory nomination (with a 15-day claim settlement timeline on death, distinct from a will’s determination of ownership), the 7-year inoperative-locker rule and the due-process path it gives banks, prohibited items, access logging/CCTV requirements, and practical points on rent structure and maintaining your own contents inventory.