There has been no change in the transaction fee at the ATMs
THE EXISTING RULE Five withdrawals are free at ATMs of the account-holder’s bank. A charge of Rs 20 is levied from the sixth withdrawal onwards. However, for cash withdrawals from banks other than where a customer has an account, three transactions are free.
Citizens were in for a surprise on Wednesday night when some banks including HDFC, Axis and ICICI announced new charges for cash transactions. These charges will be applicable after a certain number of deposits or withdrawals in both savings and salary accounts of these banks. However, the charges will not be applicable on ATM withdrawals, and are thus confined to banking transactions only.
The banks witnessed a number of customers who came with queries on Thursday about this new scheme and expressed unhappiness. The citizens also voiced concerns over social media and posted their disapproval of this new levy.
As per HDFC bank, customers will be allowed the first four transactions every month for free after which Rs 150 per transaction will be charged including tax and cess, and Rs 5 per Rs 1,000. While for home branch transactions worth Rs 2 lakhs in a month can be done for free but above this amount the customers will be charged Rs 5 per Rs 1000 and Rs 150 including tax and cess.
Also, if one sends someone as a representative to the bank one can either deposit or withdraw Rs 25,000 in one day with an additional charge of Rs 150 including tax and cess. Therefore, you cannot withdraw or deposit any amount more than Rs 25,000 in one day. An agitated customer said, “These charges are too high and I cannot understand why they are applicable on our deposits? Why is there a restriction of withdrawal of my own money?” Another angry customer said, “They are forcing us to shift our transactions to ATMs but these too are taxed after a few withdrawals.”
This move has come with an effort to shift to a cashless economy following the demonetisation decision of the central government. A few HDFC bank officials on request of anonymity told the Free Press Journal, “The charges on transactions always existed but the amounts were low, between Rs 90-100 for approximately 10 transactions. As you see the number of permissible transactions was high. The latest policy is an effort to reduce cash transactions and move towards a cashless economy in the post demonetisation phase.”
This policy is not welcomed by citizens and the All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) as well. Lalita Joshi, Joint Secretary of AIBEA, said, “Citizens are already affected by the whole cash crunch phenomenon and this will create more difficulties. This policy is introduced by private sector banks without considering the plight of the general customers. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should look into this matter and take some action.”