Indian CEO Requests Some Funds From SVB Account. Now, The Wait

As Silicon Valley Bridge Bank opened on Monday, some Indian startups were among the first ones to place a withdrawal request. One of the companies was Harvesting Farmer Network, which has been banking with Silicon Valley Bank for nearly a decade.

Ruchit G Garg, the chief executive of Harvesting Farmer Network, says that they have placed a request to wire some of their funds, but are still waiting for the funds to arrive in their account.

"We will know if it worked or not tomorrow because it does take some time to move money," Mr Garg tells NDTV.

He added that the company will continue to keep some deposits in the bank as the US regulators have assured that the bank funds are insured.

Silicon Valley Bank, a key lender to startups, was closed by US regulators last week. The move has sent shockwaves in global markets, triggering fears of a 2008-like financial crisis.  

Nearly $175 billion of the bank's customer deposits are now under the control of a bridge bank being run by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The FDIC and the US government have assured the depositors that they will have full access to their funds.

The bank's collapse has hit the daily cash needs and other running expenses of some Indian startups which were associated with SVB. Nazara Technologies has nearly Rs 64 crore stuck in Silicon Valley Bank. Like Harvesting Farmer Network, the company is waiting for its transfer request to go through.

"We had initiated transfers prior to the closure of the bank that was not processed. We are waiting and watching whether these transfers get automatically processed or we need to make new transfers," Nitish Mittersain, the chief executive of Nazara Technologies Ltd told NDTV.

While all the bank branches reopened on Monday, some customers are still waiting for their requests to go through.