New Delhi: The large banks in the country including market leader State Bank of India(SBI) have hiked cash transaction charges on deposits and withdrawals, leading to costlier banking.
This is reportedly done to discourage cash transactions and nudge bank customers towards the digital mode of payments.
Here are the break up of transaction charges that SBI, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank have proposed to levy on consumers:
State Bank of India
Cash transaction charges: SBI will allows 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.
Monthly Average Balance charges: The bank has also decided to levy penlty on customers who will fail to maintain the stipulated minimum balance.
SBI will levy a penalty will be Rs 100 plus taxes, if the balance falls 75 percent of the Monthly Average Balance (MAB) of Rs 5,000 in metro cities. 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 the 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.
ATM withdrawal charges: Reportedly, in order to discourage cash transactions, SBI will also impose a levy of up to Rs 20 if the number of cash withdrawal from ATMs of other banks exceeds three and Rs 10 for more than five withdrawals from SBI ATMs.
The bank will not levy any charge on withdrawals from own ATMs if the saving account balance exceeds Rs 25,000. However, there will be no charge if the balance exceeds Rs 1 lakh, if one withdraws from ATMs of other banks.
SMS alerts: SBI will also impose Rs 15 for SMS alerts per quarter from debit card holders who maintain average quarterly balance of up to Rs 25,000 during the three months. There will be no charge for UPI/USSD transactions of up to Rs 1,000.
HDFC Bank
Cash transaction charges: After first four free deposits and withdrawals each month, HDFC Bank will levy Rs 150 per transaction.
All the customers of savings as well as salary accounts will face the brunt.
The advantage for the bank's own customers is that the bank will allow deposits or withdrawals of up to Rs 2 lakh free of cost at one go per day. It will begin to charge Rs 5 per Rs 1,000, or Rs 150 after the limit.
Advantage home-city branches: The first four transactions a month at branches in home city will attract no levies, and Rs 5 per Rs 1,000 will be charged thereafter subject to a minimum of Rs 150 in one month, and Rs 50,000 per day for the third-party limit would be.
ICICI Bank
Cash transaction charges: ICICI Bank would charge Rs 5 per Rs 1,000 (subject to a minimum of 150) at branches.
The cash deposit at cash acceptance machines would not attract a charge for first cash deposit of a calendar month and will be levied Rs 5 per Rs 1,000 thereafter.
Axis Bank
Cash transaction charges: Axis Bank customers will be allowed five free transactions every month, including deposits and withdrawals.
The customers will be charged a minimum fee of Rs 95 per transaction after the first five monthly transactions.
Up to five non-home branch transactions at Axis Bank will be free, while a maximum per-day deposit of Rs 50,000.
To discourage large cash transactions, the bank will impose a penalty of Rs 2.50 per Rs 1,000, or Rs 95 per transaction, whichever is higher, from the sixth transaction onwards.
With major banks taking the lead in making cash transactions steeper, other banks will undoubtedly follow next.
