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New Delhi: State-controlled banks have collected a whopping over Rs 10,000 crore from their customers for not maintaining a minimum balance in their savings accounts and from charges levied on ATM withdrawals beyond the free transactions in the last nearly three and a half years, says a Times of India report citing data submitted in Parliament.

India’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) was charging the penalty on failure to maintain monthly average balance requirement till 2012 but it discontinued doing so till March 31, 2016, while other lenders, including private sector banks, were charging as approved by their board. SBI again re-introduced it from April 1, 2017, as per a written reply to a Parliament question.

It may be noted that following criticism SBI had lowered the minimum average monthly balance for savings accounts in metros to Rs 3,000 from Rs 5,000 and lowered the penalties for non-adherence by 20-50 per cent. Customers opening accounts under Basic Savings Bank Deposit (BSBD) scheme as well as Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna are exempt from the rule.

The country’s private sector banks would also have collected a large amount as penalty charges from their customers apart from more than Rs 10,000 crore collected by public sector banks during the three-and-a-half-year period. However, data for private sector lenders was not added in the numbers provided in the Parliament question, the report mentioned.

The details from the finance ministry came in response to a question posed by Lok Sabha MP Dibyendu Adhikari on Tuesday. The government clarified that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had allowed banks to fix charges on various services rendered by them, as approved by their boards, the report said.

It further said, according to the direction by the banking regulator, a minimum of three free transactions at any other bank’s ATM at six metros — New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, and Hyderabad — and account holders get five free ATM transaction withdrawals at a bank’s own ATM at any other location is permitted during a month.

“Beyond this minimum number of free ATM transactions, banks have their board approved policy on charges from customers on ATM transactions subject to a cap of Rs 20 per transaction,” the report said quoting the finance ministry reply.