Public sector banks have charged depositors Rs 2,331 crore penalty for not maintaining monthly average balance in FY24, which is 25% higher than the amount charged by the lenders in the year-ago period.

While Punjab National Bank charged the highest sum of Rs 633 crore, the next in the line was Bank of Baroda at Rs 386 crore for non-maintenance of minimum balance.

Minister of state in the finance ministry Pankaj Chaudhary also informed the Lok Sabha that public sector banks collected around Rs 8,500 crore from depositors for not maintaining minimum monthly balance in accounts between FY20 and FY24. 

In reply to another question, the finance ministry stated that availability of banking outlets is monitored by a Geographic Information System (GIS) based App., namely, Jan Dhan Darshak (JDD) App and out of the 6,01,328 inhabited villages mapped on this App, 6,00,458 villages (99.85%) are covered with banking outlets within a radius of 5 km.