Banking turns costlier, SBI to start charging penalty for non maintenance of minimum balance

New Delhi: Banks in India have all of a sudden become more enterprising in fleecing customers.

After the news of slapping of transaction charges, SBI has now announced that till will start charging penalty for non maintaining minimum balance in accounts from April 1.

SBI had earlier announced that it will permit saving bank account holders to deposit cash three times a month for no charges, and levy Rs 50 plus service tax on every transaction after that.

HDFC also announced levying of transaction charges of Rs 150 if more than three deposits done in a month, while ICICI Bank and Axis Bank are already levying similar transaction charges.

In metro cities, the penalty will be Rs 100 plus taxes, if the balance falls 75 percent of the Monthly Average Balance (MAB) of Rs 5,000. If the balance is short by 50 percent, the penalty will be Rs 50 plus taxes.

The penalty will vary from region to region, and will be lowest in rural areas.

In case of current accounts, the levy can go as high as Rs 20,000. SBI had stopped charging any penalty on non maintenance of minimum balance in 2012 in order to strengthen its customer base.