From maintaining minimum balance in accounts to ATM charges, consumers are vexed over banks levying fees

Banks have been slapping several charges in the name of customer services, facing the wrath of the common man.

Banks such as State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI, HDFC, Axis Bank, etc levy several fees, such as maintaining minimum balance accounts, ATM charges, branch deposit withdrawal charges, MDR charges, debit card charges, etc, causing outrage.

When the SBI announced penalties for customers breaching average minimum balance limit in their accounts, the decision did not go down well with the consumers.

Even as banks are not bothered about the penalties, Indian Government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have taken note of the issue.

“The point that we make is that there is a cost to this network that we have created. We want to be adequately compensated and it should be meaningful. Otherwise, why should we do this business?” Rajiv Anand, head of retail at Axis Bank, told ET.

Be it credit card or debit card, the banks end up earning a fee either from the customer or from the merchant.

"If MDR becomes zero, there is no point of us being in the business. To survive, we will have to find ways to monetise customer data which, as of now, we were keeping encrypted and secured,” MN Srinivasu, director of Billdesk, told ET.

The RBI may intervene but it is yet to see its stand in the case.


Banks levy fees based on the nature and affordability of the customer. Those who are at the bottom of the pyramid, pay very little or nothing. The private sector mostly ignores them.

"I know very few people who would do more than 10 debits to their account every month. I am not aware of anybody at all. When I asked a number of people to raise their hands if they had less than Rs 5,000 in their account, no one raised. We have arrived at these numbers to ensure that there is a certain amount of discipline,” Arundhati Bhattacharya, chairman, State Bank of India, told ET.