People like Vijay Mallya might get undue advantage from the Indian banks, but not the ordinary citizens. Normal people were let to wait and wait to be helped by the banks, and by the time banks get ready to help them.... the hour of need might have long gone! Such was the case of Mohinderjit Singh Sethi and his wife Rajmohini Sethi of Punjab. Mohinderjit has opened an account with HDFC  bank, which an assurance that they could operate their debit card freely in the foreign countries too! But that assurance proved to be a shocker.

When the couple tried to use the card in Bangkok and Singapore, the card stood to be dysfunctional. Though Mohinderjit made frantic calls to the bank manager and was assured to be cleared with the problem, the card has not worked yet. The couple had to face a lot of problems in the foreign land, and had to strive hard to get back to India.

The enraged couple has filed a complaint in the district consumer forum which has awarded them 50,000/-. Not satisfied with the result, the couple has approached the The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC), which made serious remarks on the bank officials. "The bank has got no love and respect for India. The reputation of India was at stake.

Knowing fully well that Indians were trapped in a foreign country, it was the bounden duty of the manager to swing into action immediately,” said NCDRC while granting 5 lakhs as compensation to the couple. Further the bench headed by Justice J M Malik has said "Foreigners always complain that due to procedural delays, they do not want to have business relations with this country. The lackadaisical approach by the bank is surprising. The bank manager did not make any effort to straighten out the problem."- That seems to be a valid point!