Panic-stricken customers of Global Trust Bank continued to throng its branches across the country since early morning to withdraw cash, even as the bank officials said the GTB had enough liquidity to pay the account-holders.

GTB officials said over Rs 10 crore (Rs 100 million) had been withdrawn by 10,000 customers in the capital on Sunday.

• The GTB Crisis: Complete Coverage

"The bank is stabbed and now the only way out is to amalgamate GTB with another nationalised bank," GTB vice-president (head of branch) M S Venkateswaran said in Delhi.

Though RBI has approved the scheme of merging GTB with the Oriental Bank of Commerce, the sources said HDFC Bank had also shown interest.

All the seven GTB branches in New Delhi opened early on Monday as the queue of customers continued to swell.

"However, the withdrawal pressure is less Monday, after the government's assurance to protect the customers' interest," a senior GTB official said.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday said the government was committed to "protecting" the interests of depositors and the deposits in the bank were "reasonably safe."

"I came to take stock of the situation. Now I am confident that my money will be safe and I can withdraw the full amount once the moratorium is lifted," Ram Paras, a customer who has deposits worth over Rs 10 lakh (Rs 1 million) in the bank, said.

Despite the government committing itself to 'protecting' the interests of depositors, long queues were seen at almost all the branches of Global Trust Bank here for withdrawal of money since early morning.

Customers in Kolkata started gathering before Chowringhee and other branches of the bank in the city even before the scheduled opening time and bank officials had to face a volley of questions as soon as they arrived at the premises.

Though many account holders had come out of sheer curiosity, others wanted to withdraw the amount as permitted by the RBI.

"We are not much worried since the government has assured that our deposits with the bank are safe, but I want to withdraw money for my day-to-day expenses," said T Chatterjee, who was waiting outside a bank branch since 9 am.

"I don't see any reason to panic, especially after Monday 's newspaper reports," said an account holder A Gupta.

Chief Manager of the branch assured the customers there

was enough money to pay Rs 10,000 to each of them and that there was no need to panic.

"Demat account would function as usual and only self cheques would be entertained. Only account holder can withdraw the money," he said.

Even as officials of the crisis-ridden Global Trust Bank claimed there was no need to 'panic,' customers at three branches here continued to withdraw money with the disbursals restricted to Rs 10,000 as per the RBI directives.

"There is no need to panic. The transactions are smooth," officials of the bank said in Ahmedabad on Monday.

"Our corporate office at Secunderabad is authorised to provide any information sought," a senior official at the C G Road branch said.

"We are attending our customers, which is our top priority at the moment," he said.

A queue of about 150 people was seen in the first hour of the opening of the three branches in the city. The bank has sought police protection as a safety measure although the transactions are going on smoothly, he added.

Sooraj Trivedi, a trader who holds two accounts in the bank, expressed dissatisfaction over the decision to allow only Rs 10,000 to be withdrawn at this stage of the crisis.

Another account holder Vandana Goswami, who has been making trips to the bank ever since the crisis surfaced, said "though the bank officials are cooperative, the situation would be normal only when we have money in our hands."