<p class="bodytext">As many as 21 public sector banks and three major private sector lenders collected a whopping Rs 5,000 crore from customers for non-maintenance of minimum balance in their accounts in 2017-18, according to banking data.</p>.<p class="bodytext">India's largest lender State Bank of India, which suffered a staggering net loss of Rs 6,547 crore during 2017-18, led the pack in penalising its customers for not maintaining minimum account balance.</p>.<p class="bodytext">SBI, which reintroduced the penalty on deposits going below monthly average balance basis from April 2017, collected nearly half the amount raised by the 24 banks put together (Rs 4,989.55 crore).</p>.<p class="bodytext">But for the additional income of Rs 2,433.87 crore under this head, SBI's losses would have soared further.</p>.<p class="bodytext">After SBI, the largest amount of charges for not maintaining minimum balance during 2017-18 was collected by HDFC Bank. It charged its customers Rs 590.84 crore, which is lower than Rs 619.39 crore in 2016-17, the data revealed.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Axis Bank collected Rs 530.12 crore in the last fiscal while ICICI Bank charged Rs 317.6 crore.</p>.<p class="bodytext">SBI was charging the penalty on failure to maintain monthly average balance requirement till 2012 and again re-introduced it from April 1, 2017.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Following the criticism, SBI reduced charges with effect from October 1, 2017.</p>.<p class="bodytext">According to the RBI norms, banks are permitted to levy sevice/miscellaneous charges.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Customers opening accounts under Basic Savings Bank Deposit (BSBD) scheme as well as Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna are not required to maintain any minimum balance.</p>
<p class="bodytext">As many as 21 public sector banks and three major private sector lenders collected a whopping Rs 5,000 crore from customers for non-maintenance of minimum balance in their accounts in 2017-18, according to banking data.</p>.<p class="bodytext">India's largest lender State Bank of India, which suffered a staggering net loss of Rs 6,547 crore during 2017-18, led the pack in penalising its customers for not maintaining minimum account balance.</p>.<p class="bodytext">SBI, which reintroduced the penalty on deposits going below monthly average balance basis from April 2017, collected nearly half the amount raised by the 24 banks put together (Rs 4,989.55 crore).</p>.<p class="bodytext">But for the additional income of Rs 2,433.87 crore under this head, SBI's losses would have soared further.</p>.<p class="bodytext">After SBI, the largest amount of charges for not maintaining minimum balance during 2017-18 was collected by HDFC Bank. It charged its customers Rs 590.84 crore, which is lower than Rs 619.39 crore in 2016-17, the data revealed.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Axis Bank collected Rs 530.12 crore in the last fiscal while ICICI Bank charged Rs 317.6 crore.</p>.<p class="bodytext">SBI was charging the penalty on failure to maintain monthly average balance requirement till 2012 and again re-introduced it from April 1, 2017.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Following the criticism, SBI reduced charges with effect from October 1, 2017.</p>.<p class="bodytext">According to the RBI norms, banks are permitted to levy sevice/miscellaneous charges.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Customers opening accounts under Basic Savings Bank Deposit (BSBD) scheme as well as Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna are not required to maintain any minimum balance.</p>