Bank locker rules: what the bank owes you if things go missing

A bank locker is a small safe you rent inside a bank’s strong room to keep gold, papers and valuables. You hold the key, the bank guards the room. RBI’s revised rules, in force since 1 January 2022, set what the bank owes you if something goes wrong.

The 100 times rule. If your locker contents are lost to fire, theft, burglary, dacoity, robbery or building collapse, or to fraud by a bank employee, the bank pays up to 100 times the locker’s current yearly rent. That’s a cap, not a promise of what your contents are worth.

An illustration. Say your locker rent is 4,000 rupees a year. The most the bank owes after a theft is 4 lakh rupees. If the locker held gold worth 10 lakh rupees, the gap is yours. The bank doesn’t know what’s inside, and it doesn’t insure the contents for you.

Natural calamities. The bank isn’t liable for loss from floods, earthquakes or other acts of God. It must still take reasonable care to protect its premises.

Your rights as a locker holder

• A written agreement. The bank signs a locker agreement with you on stamped paper, and you get a copy. It can be based on the model agreement from the Indian Banks’ Association.
• Alerts on every access. The bank must send an SMS and email to your registered contacts, the same day, each time your locker is operated.
• CCTV. Banks may record the strong room’s entry and exit, and keep the footage for at least 180 days.
• A fair queue. Banks keep a branch-wise list of free lockers. If none is free, you get a wait-list number.
• A nominee. You can name a nominee for your locker. After the holder dies, banks should settle claims within 15 days of receiving them.

Rent, deposits and unpaid dues

For a new locker, the bank may ask for a term deposit that covers three years’ rent and the cost of breaking the locker open if needed. It can’t demand this from existing holders, or from customers with a satisfactory running account. If rent goes unpaid for three years in a row, the bank can break the locker open after following due process.

Before you rent one. Read the agreement. Keep the rent paid. Name a nominee. And keep a private list of what’s inside, with photos and bills for gold, since the bank’s cap may not cover the full value. Your bank needs your KYC on file to give you a locker.

Watch the alerts. If you get a locker access SMS you didn’t make, call your branch at once. And if a caller claiming to be your bank asks for an OTP to “update your locker”, hang up: it’s a scam. Here’s how to file a cyber crime complaint.

RBI consolidated many of its bank rules into new directions in 2025, so check the current text on rbi.org.in. More to read: your deposits are insured up to 5 lakh, gold hallmark and HUID, and what a bank locker is in one line.