The largest public sector bank in India – State Bank of India (SBI) provides banking services to all segments of society. SBI has over 50 crore customers. Recently, a question was asked on Lok Sabha related to SBI – whether SBI charges penalty from its customers if they don’t maintain minimum balance in their accounts.
The Government of India replied that the State Bank of India (SBI) is not charging any penalty for not maintaining a minimum balance in regular savings bank accounts. This information was shared in Lok Sabha in response to a question raised by MP N K Premachandran.
Question in Lok Sabha:
MP N K Premachandran asked the Finance Minister whether SBI is charging a penalty from customers who fail to maintain the minimum balance in their accounts. He also sought details on whether the government plans to continue this practice and the amount of money collected by SBI from such penalties in the last five years. Additionally, he asked if the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has set rules for minimum balance and service charges in banks.
Government’s Reply:
Replying to the question, Minister of State for Finance, Shri Pankaj Chaudhary, stated that SBI has not been charging any penalty for non-maintenance of minimum balance since March 2020. He clarified that there is no minimum balance requirement in SBI’s regular savings bank accounts, and customers do not need to worry about penalties.
The Minister also explained that RBI has issued guidelines to all banks regarding minimum balance and service charges. According to these guidelines:
- Banks must inform customers about minimum balance requirements when opening an account.
- If a customer fails to maintain the minimum balance, banks should give a warning before imposing any charges.
- A savings account should not go into negative balance just because of penalty charges.
Additionally, the Minister stated that Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts do not have any minimum balance requirement, and no penalty is charged for them.
No Data on Service Charge Collection:
The Minister informed that RBI does not keep records of the service charges collected by banks. However, banks are allowed to set their own service charges as per board-approved policies while following RBI guidelines.
