Mumbai:
Following the diktat from the Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) commercial banks have begun issuing passbooks and
account statements to the customers every month without
charging any fees. The banks earlier issued quarterly
account statements.
This
step is expected to increase the costs of operations of
both private and foreign banks. Earlier, a customer wanting
monthly account statements had to pay anywhere between
Rs100 and Rs250.
According
to industry estimates, the cost of a transaction at bank
branches ranges from Rs40 to Rs55 and hence, the banks
are not encouraging customers to go back to the passbook
culture.
A
senior private sector banker said the cost of sending
one statement is Rs12-Rs15. If the banks have to send
statements every month, the expenditure will increase
three-fold to Rs154-Rs180 from the current Rs48-Rs60 per
customer.
This
would wipe out the gains on an account where the minimum
balance of Rs5,000 is being maintained. Banks have a 3
per cent margin (Rs150) on every account with a minimum
balance of Rs5,000. But this gain fades considering the
facilities provided by banks.
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