Three banks have decided to charge customers a minimum of 150 rupees for cash transactions exceeding four per month. Every fifth and subsequent transaction will be charged 150 rupees or 5 rupees per 1,000 rupees, whichever is higher. The banks are Axis Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank. The transactions include both deposits and withdrawals. The decision is atrocious, illogical, immoral, unfair, and unjust. Besides this, Axis Bank charges 5 rupees per 1,000 rupees a minimum of 150 rupees if the amount exceeds 1 lakh rupees per month, and HDFC Axis Bank charges 5 rupees per 1,000 rupees a minimum of 150 rupees if the amount exceeds 2 lakh rupees per month. The banks are private banks but I am sure Modi government is behind the move to see the reaction and ask public sector banks to charge customers similarly. Already there are charges on ATM withdrawals exceeding a certain number and this decision of banks makes banking unpopular.
People should not have to pay for depositing or withdrawing their money from banks. If a person deposits or withdraws 1 rupee in fifth transaction he or she will lose 150 rupees. This is atrocious.
Including cash deposits in cash transactions for charging customers discourages customers from depositing money in bank. People are likely to keep money in bank or open accounts in other banks.
Banks charge customers when there is no minimum balance in customer’s account. Banks should pay to customer when they are unable to give customer the amount required. If a customer wants to withdraw 24,000 rupees and bank can give him only 2,000 rupees, bank should pay to customer amount proportionate to charge below minimum balance.
After remonetisation banks lowered interest rates on savings accounts and fixed deposits and borrowings. This has resulted in loss for most people while corporates have benefitted. Some workers get their wages in their bank accounts on weekly basis. They withdraw cash once a week. Every third month they will have to withdraw fifth time and they will be losers.
It is strange that honest people who deposit their money in bank are made to suffer and crooks and dishonest people who borrow thousands of crores of rupees from banks and do not repay loans get away. Banks lose principal and interest. The identity of crooks and dishonest people is kept secret. Sometimes they are favoured with corporate debt restructuring or strategic debt restructuring or simply default and nobody takes action. The debts are written off.
