Lack of minimum balance in dead accounts can’t be penalised: RBI

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today asked banks not to levy penalty for non-maintenance of minimum balances in any inoperative account.

According to the RBI, a savings bank account is treated as inoperative / dormant if there are no transactions in the account for over a period of two years.

RBI chief Raghuram Rajan in the monetary policy statement on April 1 had proposed that banks should not levy penal charges for non-maintenance of minimum balances in any inoperative account.

Instead, he had proposed that banks should limit services available on dormant accounts to those available to basic savings bank deposit accounts and restore the services when the balances improve to the minimum required level.