E-Paper
Banks collect ₹5,000 cr from customers in FY18 for not maintaining minimum account balance
The government-owned SBI collected the largest amount of charges, followed by HDFC and Axis Bank.
As many as 21 public sector banks and three major private sector lenders collected a whopping ₹5,000 crore from customers for non-maintenance of minimum balance in their accounts in 2017-18, according to banking data.
India’s largest lender State Bank of India, which suffered a staggering net loss of ₹6,547 crore during 2017-18, led the pack in penalising its customers for not maintaining minimum account balance.
The government-owned SBI, which re-introduced the penalty on deposits going below monthly average balance basis from April 2017, collected nearly half the amount raised by the 24 banks put together ( ₹4,989.55 crore).
But for the additional income of ₹2,433.87 crore under this head, SBI’s losses would have soared further.
After SBI, the largest amount of charges for not maintaining minimum balance during 2017-18 was collected by HDFC Bank. It charged its customers ₹590.84 crore, which is lower than ₹619.39 crore in 2016-17, the data revealed.
Axis Bank collected ₹530.12 crore in the last fiscal while ICICI Bank charged ₹317.6 crore.
SBI was charging the penalty on failure to maintain monthly average balance requirement till 2012 and again re-introduced it from April 1, 2017.
Following the criticism, SBI reduced charges with effect from October 1, 2017.
According to the RBI norms, banks are permitted to levy sevice/miscellaneous charges.
Customers opening accounts under Basic Savings Bank Deposit (BSBD) scheme as well as Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna are not required to maintain any minimum balance.
