SBI justifies penalty on issue of minimum balance, says 'need money to manage Jan Dhan accounts'

The State Bank of India on Wednesday justified its move saying the bank needs to impose some charges to balance the "burden" of managing a large number of no-frills Jan Dhan accounts.

The bank, which has been facing a backlash for levying penalty on non-maintenance of minimum balance in accounts, said it has not received any "formal communication" from the government for reconsidering the penalty.

It also clarified the penalty would not apply to Jan Dhan accounts.

Last week, the country's largest lender decided to reintroduce penalty on non-maintenance of minimum balance in accounts and also revised charges on other banking services. The new charges would be applicable from April 1. The move by the state-run banking major has faced a lot of criticism, including from the opposition parties.

"Today, we have a lot of burden such as we have 11 crore financial inclusion or Jan Dhan accounts. To manage such a large number of Jan Dhan accounts, we need some charges. We have considered many factors and after analysing carefully, we have taken this step," SBI Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya said.