SBI Announces Cash Withdrawal Charges from July

Customers with basic savings bank deposit (BSBD) accounts will be charged fees for cash withdrawals that exceed four free transactions per month starting July 1. Charges for cheque books with more than 10 leaves in a year would be imposed on SBI BSBD account holders.

State Bank of India (SBI) would collect charges ranging from Rs 15 to Rs 75 for "extra value-added services" with effect from July 1, 2021, according to the adjustment in service costs for BSBD accounts.

Non-financial and transfer transactions will be free for BSBD account holders at branches, ATMs, and CDM (cash distributing machines). SBI has announced that after the first four free cash withdrawals, it would charge Rs 15 plus GST for each cash withdrawal made at bank branches, SBI ATMs, or other banks' ATMs. "After the first four free cash withdrawal transactions (including ATM and branch), charges will be recovered," SBI stated. In terms of cheque book services, the first ten cheque leaves will be provided free of charge each fiscal year.

Following that, a 10-leaf cheque book would cost Rs 40 plus GST, a 25-leaf cheque book will cost Rs 75 plus GST, and an emergency cheque book will cost Rs 50 plus GST for 10 leaves or portion thereof, according to SBI. "Senior citizen clients, on the other hand, are excluded (from chequebook services)," the state-owned institution stated.

Any individual can open a BSBD account after providing appropriate KYC (know your customer) documents. These accounts are primarily intended for the poorest members of society to encourage them to begin saving without incurring any penalties or fees. According to research published by IIT-Bombay in April of this year, SBI made over Rs 300 crore by charging service fees to over 12 crore customers. BSBD account holders during 2015-22.

According to the research, SBI charging BSBD account users Rs 17.70 for every debit transaction beyond four was not "fair." Apart from SBI, Punjab National Bank, the second-largest public sector lender, received Rs 9.9 crore from 3.9 crore BSBD accounts over the same time”.

The levying of charges on the BSBDA is governed by RBI rules issued in September 2013. These accounts' users are 'permitted more than four withdrawals in a month, at the bank's discretion, as long as the bank does not charge for them, according to the directive.