Money Collected by Banks on Account of Minimum Balance Penalty

According to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) guidelines, banks do not have any Minimum Balance requirement for Basic Savings Bank Deposit accounts (BSBD), including accounts opened under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY).  As on March 2019, there were 57.3 crore BSBD accounts across the country, including 35.27 crore Jan-Dhan accounts.  Hence, for these accounts there are no charges for not maintaining minimum balance. BSBD accounts provide certain basic minimum facilities free of charge.

For accounts other than BSBD accounts, as per RBI’s Master Circular on “Customer Service in Banks” dated July 1, 2015, banks are permitted to fix service charges on various services rendered by them, as per their Board approved policy, while ensuring that the charges are reasonable and not out of line with the average cost of providing these services.

As apprised by eighteen Public Sector Banks (PSBs) and four major private sector banks, the amount collected through the levy of charges for non-maintenance of minimum balance in Savings Bank account, during the last three financial years, are as under: 

The reduction in the amount collected through levy of charges by PSBs, inter-alia, include reduction in charges for non-maintenance of minimum balance by State Bank of India, with effect from 1.10.2017.

This was stated by Shri Anurag Singh Thakur, Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.