A 25-year-old probationary officer in State Bank of India Digvijay Singh in Gujarat, recently applied for an advance festival loan for Rs 42,970, mentioning “Valentine’s Day” as the festival.
But the bank rejected his application saying that Valentine’s Day is not a valid festival to grant a loan.
Digvijay said that, “I didn’t apply for the loan to get publicity, and didn’t want to comment on the bank’s decision”.
Next time Singh again applied for loan mentioning ‘Basant Panchami’ as the festival which was happily accepted by the bank.
Senior official said, “We offer loans only for festivals, and not for days like Valentine’s Day, Father’s Day or Mother’s Day.”
The SBI offers one salary in advance as an interest-free loan for celebration of festivals, according to bank sources.