State-owned banks have received guidance from the government to close Jan Dhan accounts whose beneficiaries are unwilling to keep them active, amid rising instances of such accounts being misused by fraudsters as mule accounts to defraud people, people aware of the development said.
Debit card payments remained sluggish due to the surge in digital transactions after the pandemic, and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has emerged as the most popular mode of money transfer, particularly for small value transactions, according to RBI data. In July 2020, the total debit card spends stood at Rs 2.81 trillion, as compared to Rs 3.15 trillion in July 2023, reflecting a growth of 11.96 per cent. UPI spends have seen a whopping growth of 428 per cent, zooming from Rs 2.90 trillion to Rs 15.33 trillion during the same period, the data revealed.
The Reserve Bank on Tuesday asked banks not to levy penalties on customers who don't maintain a minimum balance in any inoperative account as part of a consumer protection initiative.
The ministry of finance on Tuesday clarified that public sector banks (PSBs) have intimated they are not going to raise bank charges in the near future in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ministry's statement comes after several media reports citing steep increase in service charges by certain PSBs surfaced. No service charge is applicable on the 60.04 crore Basic Savings Bank Deposit (BSBD) accounts, including 41.13 crore Jan Dhan accounts opened by the poor segments of the society, as per the statement.
The country's largest lender SBI will levy charges for cash withdrawal beyond four free transactions in a month from customers holding the basic savings bank deposit (BSBD) accounts. These customers will also be levied charges for cheque book beyond 10 leaves in a year. As per the revision in service charges for BSBD accounts, State Bank of India (SBI) will levy charges ranging from Rs 15 to Rs 75 for the "additional value added services" with effect from July 1, 2021.
As per the latest finance ministry data, the total balance in over 36.06 crore Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts was at Rs 1,00,495.94 crore as on July 3.
The RBI also allowed banks to levy ATM charges beyond 5 transactions for the same bank's account holders.
Withdrawals from basic savings bank deposit accounts are capped at four a month, including withdrawals via ATMs.
State Bank of India does not levy any charge for non-maintenance of a minimum balance in basic savings account.
RuPay is working on how to increase offers to customers. It is also focused on technology innovation in the card payment system.
Using ATMs to withdraw money or for other purposes like balance enquiry beyond five times in a month will attract a levy of Rs 20 per transaction from November 1.
ICICI Bank has 317 branches in hitherto unbanked villages.
The new tax rates will come into effect from January 1, 2019.
The overdraft facility has been sanctioned in only 40,000 accounts
Days after the PM announced a financial inclusion package, a look at how banks and insurance firms are going about it and what lies ahead.
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