With just a month to go before she gives birth, the heavily pregnant Clera Aguiar, 31, needs all the rest she can get. Instead, for the last three months, she has been running from pillar to post, unable to touch her hard-earned money deposited in the City Co-operative Bank. Thanks to the RBI's restrictions on the bank, she may not even be able to pay for the delivery next month.

In April, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) placed restrictions on transactions by the City Co-operative Bank, and limited withdrawals to Rs 1,000 per account. This was done under Section 35 A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, due to the precarious financial condition of the bank.