Bank Penalty: Banks have collected ₹19,083 crore in penalties over three years for not maintaining a minimum balance in their accounts. Let's find out which bank has been the number one in collecting fines.

Banks recovered Rs 19,000 crore for not maintaining minimum balance

Minimum Balance Penalty: Banks are racking up significant sums of money through charges levied on customers for failing to maintain a minimum balance. According to reports, Indian banks have collected approximately ₹19,083 crore in such penalties over the past three years. This means these small charges are taking a heavy toll on customers' pockets.  

CA Kanan Bahl expressed his concern on this issue on LinkedIn. He believes that it is unfair to collect money from people through such penalties when they are already struggling financially.

Private banks are ahead in earning from penalties

Data on revenue from minimum balance charges shows that private banks have been a major contributor. According to RupeeTool, private banks, including HDFC Bank, have collected approximately ₹10,991 crore in penalties over the past three years, representing more than half of the total penalty amount.

Meanwhile, public sector banks also collected charges totaling approximately ₹8,092 crore during this period. These figures clearly indicate that private and public sector banks together collected a significant amount from these fines.

HDFC Bank became number 1

Among individual banks, HDFC Bank remains at the top of the list. The bank has collected approximately ₹3,871 crore in fines. Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, and Bank of Baroda have also collected penalties of over ₹1,000 crore.

There is no penalty in these banks

The country's largest public sector banks, State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab National Bank, do not charge any fees for not maintaining a minimum balance. However, in earlier years, these banks generated significant revenue from such penalties, suggesting that these charges were a significant part of their income at that time.