Indian lenders have decided to impose charges on cash withdrawals or increase the minimum balance requirements from next month, the Times of India (TOI) reported.
These banks include Bank of Maharashtra, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) and RBL Bank, the TOI report added.
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Bank of Maharashtra
The bank customers with a savings account will now have to maintain a minimum balance of INR2,000 ($26.61m) on a monthly average basis, as against INR1500 previously.
This is applicable to all savings account holders of branches located in metro and urban areas.
The penalty for not maintaining a minimum balance in urban branches is set at INR75 per month.
The penalty is INR50 and INR20 per month in semi-urban areas and rural areas, respectively.
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By GlobalDataSimilarly, for current account holders, a minimum balance of INR5,000 needs to be maintained on a monthly average basis as against quarterly basis previously.
Additionally, a cash handling fee of INR100 is applicable to deposits and withdrawals after every three free transactions in a month at both home and non-home branches.
The bank has reduced the locker deposits but increased the penalty for rent arrears.
Bank of Maharashtra MD & CEO AS Rajeev said: “As part of our Bank’s digital strategy we have decided to encourage our customers to use alternate or digital channels in the present environment.
“Services Charges have been primarily revised to encourage digital banking and further reduce P2P contact within the branches.”
Axis Bank
The Axis Bank account holders will now have to pay INR25 for each ECS transaction, which was free previously.
The bank has introduced locker charges for access beyond a threshold limit.
Axis Bank also imposed cash handling charges of INR100 for each bundle comprising 1,000 notes in decreasing denominations of INR10, INR20 and INR50 only.
Axis Bank head of retail liabilities & direct channels Praveen Bhatt said: “This round of charge revisions was focused on encouraging digital way of banking instead of excessive usage of cash.”
Kotak Mahindra Bank
The bank has imposed debit card-ATM charges of INR20 per cash withdrawal and INR8.50 per non-financial transaction after five free transactions per month, for savings and corporate salary account holders.
The lender will also collect a fee of INR25 for every failed transaction at offline merchants or online due to insufficient balance.
The bank’s account holders, based on their account category, will also have to pay a penalty for non-maintenance of average minimum balance.
Besides, the bank has imposed a cash withdrawal fee of INR100 for every fourth transaction.
