2024-07-31 01:43:38
New Delhi: Banks charge fines from customers if minimum balance is not maintained in the account. The country’s public sector banks earned Rs 8,500 crore from minimum balance penalty in the last five years. However, the country’s largest public sector bank SBI has stopped charging minimum balance penalty since the financial year 2020. But despite this, the amount of minimum balance penalty of public sector banks has increased by 38 percent in the last five years. Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary has given this information in response to a question in the Lok Sabha. According to this, public sector banks collected Rs 8,500 crore as minimum balance penalty during the financial year 2020 to 2024. According to the information, out of 11 public sector banks, six recovered for not maintaining minimum quarterly average balance, while four banks imposed penalty on customers for not maintaining minimum average monthly balance. The minimum balance limit for customers is different in cities and villages. For example, the minimum quarterly average balance in savings account for urban customers of Punjab National Bank is Rs 2,000. For towns it is Rs 1,000 and for villages it is Rs 500. If the minimum balance is not maintained, Rs 250 can be deducted in cities, Rs 150 in towns and Rs 100 in villages.
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Chaudhary said that banks should inform customers about the minimum balance while opening accounts. If the customer does not maintain the minimum balance, then the banks should inform the customer about the penalty. SBI earned Rs 640 crore from minimum balance penalty in 2019-20. But after that the bank stopped this practice. In 2023-24, Punjab National Bank earned Rs 633 crore from this penalty, Bank of Baroda Rs 387 crore, Indian Bank Rs 369 crore, Canara Bank Rs 284 crore and Bank of India Rs 194 crore.