In line with Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan’s suggestion in the monetary policy last month, RBI on Tuesday said banks can no longer levy penal charges for non-maintenance of the minimum balance in an inoperative account.
In line with Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan’s suggestion in the monetary policy last month, RBI on Tuesday said banks can no longer levy penal charges for non-maintenance of the minimum balance in an inoperative account.
“It is advised that henceforth banks are not permitted to levy penal charges for non-maintenance of minimum balances in any inoperative account,” RBI said in a notification.
At present, certain banks, mostly from the private sector, levy a penalty every quarter on customers who are unable to maintain a prescribed minimum balance in their account.
In his monetary policy statement last month, Rajan had suggested that instead of levying penal charges for non-maintenance of minimum balance in ordinary savings bank accounts, banks should limit services on such accounts to those available to basic savings bank deposit accounts and restore them when the balances improve to the minimum required level.
“Banks should not levy penal charges for non-maintenance of minimum balances in any inoperative account. Banks should also limit the liability of customers in electronic banking transactions in cases where banks are not able to prove customer negligence,” he had said.
Commenting on this, Aditya Puri, managing director & CEO at HDFC Bank, had said that the consumer will actually end up paying more if something like that is implemented. He explained that if the minimum balance is R10,000, the bank earns R400 or 4%. However, for that money, it provides cheques, ATM access and statements even though the breakeven for a bank to provide such services is R30,000.
In earlier guidelines on minimum balance accounts, RBI had said in December 2002 that banks should inform customers regarding the requirement of minimum balance at the time of opening the account in a transparent manner.
Minors may be allowed to operate bank accounts independently
The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday said that minors above the age of 10 years may be allowed to open and operate savings bank accounts independently. However, it said that banks could fix limits in terms of age and amount up to which minors may be allowed to operate the deposit accounts independently, keeping in mind the risk-management systems. Banks can also decide, at their own discretion, as to what minimum documents are required for opening of accounts by minors.
Source: Financial Express
Source: Financial Express
