No fees for digital transactions for BSBD accounts, clarifies SBI

The country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has come up with a clarification, stating that it does not charge any fee for digital transactions for BSBD (Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account) accounts including transactions done via Unified Payment Interface (UPI) and RuPay debit cards. It can be noted that the bank has come up with the clarification following a row over refunds for digital transactions. The bank said that it only charges beyond four free cash withdrawals in the BC channel, while if the digital channel is used, no charges are being charged.

This has been done in order to promote digital transactions, SBI added, as per a report by cnbctv18.com. Also, it was said that SBI is yet to return ₹164 crore of undue fee charged from the account holders of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) towards digital payments during April 2017 and December 2019, according to media reports quoting IIT study. It was further said that the bank has returned only ₹90 crore to these account holders for transactions via UPI and Rupay cards.

"On directions from the government, SBI has returned just about ₹90 crore, thereby withholding the bigger chunk of at least ₹164 crore with itself," said the report prepared by IIT-Mumbai. The report said that SBI had collected over ₹254 crore towards at least 14 crore UPI/ RuPay transactions by charging ₹17.70 per transactions on BSBD account customers under PMJDY during April 2017 to September 2020.

Responding to the claims SBI said, “We reiterate that BSBD customer do not pay any charges for digital transactions including transactions using Unified Payment Interface (UPI) and RuPay debit cards." SBI also said that it has made all digital transactions free to its customers w.e.f. 01.01.2020.

As per the information provided by SBI, it introduced charges beyond first four withdrawals in BSBD accounts in the BC channel w.e.f. 15.06.2016 in line with the RBI guidelines with prior intimation to the customers.

SBI is an Indian Multinational, Public Sector Banking and Financial services statutory body and is the largest Indian Bank with 1/4th market share, as per the information provided on SBI's official website. The bank serves over 45 crore customers through its vast network of over 22,000 branches, 62617 ATMs/ADWMs, 71,968 BC outlets.