Balwinder Singh would always remember the day of November 4, 2016, with feelings that go far beyond ‘extraordinary.
A cab driver by profession in Punjab’s Barnala, he woke up that morning to find a sum of Rs. 98,05,95,12,231 ($1.96 billion) credited into his bank account. To put this astronomical figure into perspective, one could buy nearly 4,000 houses in Melbourne’s suburbs.
However, the joy of perhaps the biggest single transaction into an individual account proved as ephemeral as an early morning dream. The amount was debited from his account the very next day, bringing Mr Singh’s bank balance to a more earthly Rs. 3000.
Balwinder said he has made several trips to the bank to find out what happened with his account.
“I made many rounds of the bank, but nobody listened to me. Instead, they kept my passbook with them on November 7, and issued a new passbook without the gigantic entry,” he told Hindustan Times.
Mr. Singh had opened his bank account in 2014 after India’s prime minister Narendra Modi launched a massive scheme to include India’s poor into the formal banking system in the country.
A text message notification showing the amount credited into Balwinder Singh's account Source: Hindustan Times
A bank official explained what happened with Mr Singh’s account.
“The account holder happens to be a designated vendor for the bank. While passing a credit entry of Rs 200, an assistant manager (accounts) wrongly inserted the bank’s 11-digit internal Banking General Ledger account number in the amount column. The mistake was noticed the next day, following which the entry was reversed,” he said.
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