SBI collected Rs 300 crore from zero balance accounts in 5 years: IIT-Bombay study

The IIT-Bombay study observed that the SBI's decision to levy a charge of Rs 17.70 for every debit transaction beyond four by the BSBDA account holders cannot be considered reasonable.

Several banks, including the State Bank of India (SBI), have been imposing excessive charges on certain services provided to poor persons having zero-balance or Basic Savings Bank Deposit Accounts (BSBDA), a study by the IIT-Bombay has revealed. The study observed that the SBI's decision to levy a charge of Rs 17.70 for every debit transaction beyond four by the BSBDA account holders cannot be considered as “reasonable.”It highlighted that the imposition of service charges resulted in undue collections to the tune of over Rs 300 crore from among nearly 12 crore Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account (BSBDA) holders of SBI during the period 2015-20. India's second-largest public sector lender Punjab National Bank, which has 3.9 crore BSBD accounts, collected Rs 9.9 crore during the same period.