From Rs 3000 to Rs 9806 crore! Taxi driver turns billionaire for a day

For a tax driver who is used to seeing Rs 3,000 in his account, waking up one morning to see Rs 98,05,95,12,231 in his account can give him the shock of his life. 

Taxi driver Balwinder Singh was left stunned and speechless when he found out on November 4 that Rs 98,05,95,12,231 had been credited to his State Bank of Patiala account.

However, if he thought he could give up his day job and enjoy the life of a millionaire, think again.

Before he could even think of spending the money, the amount was withdrawn from his account a day later, reports Hindustan Times.

“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,” said Singh. “I had opened the account under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana My balance usually is around Rs 3,000,” he was quoted as saying.

Branch manager Ravinder Kumar refused to divulge any details. “An investigation by income tax officials is on,” he said. 

Lead bank manager Sandeep Garg, however, had quite a simple explanation for the freak occurrence. “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.

Image used for representational purposes only. Photograph: Reuters