Jan Dhan Saving Account: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday that there is no need to maintain Jan Dhan and Basic Savings Accounts. Banks levy fines only in cases where customers fail to maintain the required balance in their other accounts.
The Finance Minister was answering a supplementary question during Question Hour in Rajya Sabha on the issue of public sector banks collecting a penalty of about Rs 8,500 crore from customers for not maintaining the minimum balance in their accounts in five years.
There is no need to maintain minimum balance in savings account
Sitharaman said that the provision of keeping a minimum balance in a bank account does not apply to Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan accounts and basic accounts of poor people. It is only for those who are expected to have a minimum balance at a certain level. In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, it came to light that public sector banks recovered about Rs 8,500 crore in this item in five years from FY 2019-20.
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Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Choudhary also told the Lok Sabha last month that public sector banks had collected Rs 2,331 crore from depositors as penalty for not maintaining average monthly minimum balance in their accounts in the financial year 2023-24.
