Bank of Baroda, one of the largest state-owned banks in India, had taken away the charges in connection with the number of free cash deposits and withdrawals per month. The strong expression of public disapproval leads BoB to take such a decision.
A few days ago, the bank had declared that they are going to charge customers for their basic transactions above certain limits, including deposits and withdrawals. This declaration had created disagreement among the customers and the bank was in a stage to roll back the charges on basic transactions. And so, Bob had made certain changes on the number of free cash deposits and withdrawals per month, with effect from November 1, 2020
The decision is expected to be embraced by the bank’s general consumers who are already troubled due to the deceleration of economic activities at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s been understood from the statement of Finance Ministry that Public Sector Banks (PSBs) have decided not to raise the charges for banking services soon because of this pandemic situation.
As per the revised terms, the number of free cash deposits and withdrawals is decreased from 5 each per month to 3 each per month. There is no change in the charges for additional transactions other than the permitted free transactions.
Several media reports a sharp and stiff increment in the charges imposed by certain public sector banks (PSBs). In this context, the Finance Ministry said that there is no service charge applicable to the 60.04 crores Basic Savings Bank Deposit (BSBD) accounts, involving 41.13 crore Jan Dhan accounts created for the poor and unbanked segments of the society for providing the free services prescribed by the RBI.
As per the RBI guidelines, all banks, including PSBs, are permitted to impose charges for their services in a fair and non-discriminatory manner, based upon the actual costs involved. From the statement of the Finance Ministry, it is recognized that the bank charges have not been raised for the regular savings accounts, current accounts, cash credit accounts, and overdraft accounts. But, PSBs have announced that they do not initiate to raise bank charges soon as the public is troubled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
