Indian teacher finds over Rs 49000 crore in his bank account

London: A teacher in India got the shock of his life when he checked his bank account online and found Rs 49,570,08,17,538 (over Rs 49000 crore).

Parijat Saha expected his balance to be a little over Rs 10,000, but he could not believe his eyes when a check at an ATM confirmed his billionaire status, on paper at least.

The honest man rang the State Bank of India (SBI) to point out the error.

Red-faced bank officials would not comment, but sources claim that the funds were "uncleared" and he could not have withdrawn the money if he had tried.

Saha's monthly salary as a school teacher in the eastern state of West Bengal is Rs 35,000.

His account balance of Rs 49,570,08,17,538 is closer to India's annual Rail Budget (Rs 58,000 crore).

"On Sunday evening, when I was checking my savings account balance on the internet, I was expecting an amount of a little more than 10,000 rupees," The BBC quoted Saha, who lives in the town of Balurghat in South Dinajpur district, as saying.

"I called up a friend in the bank and joked, maybe money is overflowing in your bank, that's why your system has remitted so much money into my account," he said.

The government-run bank has not given a clarification on the matter as yet.

Subhashish Karmakar, chief manager of the bank's branch in Balurghat, declined to speak about the source of the funds or how the money got into Saha's account.

"I have been specifically asked not to comment on this issue," Karmakar said.

The bank's regional headquarters in Calcutta and national headquarters in Mumbai have been alerted and officials are trying to figure out what went wrong, sources in the bank revealed.

Saha said that he has managed to withdraw the 10,000 rupees from his account that belonged to him.

"Even though I got my money back, the account still holds the massive figure as uncleared amount.

"I don't know how long I'll have to keep that astronomical figure in my account," he added.