Indian Worker Becomes 'Billionaire for Few Hours' After His Bank Account Shows Balance of INR 27 Bln

Last December, a farmer from India’s state of Madhya Pradesh became a millionaire when he unearthed a 13-carat diamond, valued at over INR five million ($63,074) while tiling his field.

An Uttar Pradesh laborer became a billionaire for a few hours after discovering that his bank balance was INR 27 billion ($341,016,750).

According to media reports on Friday, 45-year-old Bihari Lal, who works as a daily wager, learned about it when he went to withdraw INR 100 ($1.26) from his bank account from an ATM.

Notably, Lal earns a meager INR 600-800 ($7.58-10.10) per day working in a brick kiln in Rajasthan.

Shocked after discovering such a huge amount on his account, he went to see a bank mitra, an agent facilitating bank and banking-related services, to confirm the amount.

"I asked him to check my account again, after which he checked it thrice. Even when I could not believe it, he took out the bank statement and gave it to me," Lal told reporters.

However, Lal’s joy was short-lived, as he went to his bank to get it rechecked. This time he was informed that his account had only INR 126 ($1.59) and the previous amount was due to a system error.

The bank’s lead district manager Abhishek Sinha told reporters: “It could apparently be a banking error. The account of Bihar Lal has been seized for a while and the matter has been brought to the knowledge of senior bank officials.”

In a similar incident last year, the bank accounts of two boys in Katihar, Bihar received a hefty amount of money that took the whole village by surprise.

The amount credited in the accounts of class six students Gurucharan Biswas and Ashish Kumar was more than INR nine billion ($113,619,870).