Assuring the safety of their funds, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee today asked investors not

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to press panic button over the housing finance racket as the loans were protected.

"There is no need of pressing the panic button," Mukherjee told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on inclusive growth.

He said loans given by institutions, some of whose officials were arrested in connections with the housing finance racket, are protected.

"I am in touch with Reserve Bank Governor, Chairman of Life Insurance Corporation. All the loans which have been given...They are well protected. Money of the investors in these institutions is quite safe," Mukherjee said.

CBI sleuths had on 24 November uncovered a multi-crore corporate housing-loan racket involving several public sector lenders including LICJH and Bank of India.