Response

As notified in terms of Govt. of India notification dated December 16, 2010, BSBDA-Small Accounts would be subject to the following conditions:

i. Total credits in such accounts should not exceed one lakh rupees in a year.

ii. Maximum balance in the account should not exceed fifty thousand rupees at any time

iii. The total of debits by way of cash withdrawals and transfers will not exceed ten thousand rupees in a month

iv. Foreign remittances cannot be credited to Small Accounts without completing normal KYC formalities

v. Small accounts are valid for a period of 12 months initially which may be extended by another 12 months if the person provides proof of having applied for an Officially Valid Document.

vi. Small Accounts can only be opened at CBS linked branches of banks or at such branches where it is possible to manually monitor the fulfillments of the conditions

Response

The services available free in the 'Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account’ will include deposit and withdrawal of cash; receipt / credit of money through electronic payment channels or by means of deposit / collection of cheques at bank branches as well as ATMs.

Response

There is no requirement for any initial deposit for opening a BSBDA.

Response

Yes. However, the decision to allow services beyond the minimum prescribed has been left to the discretion of the banks who can either offer additional services free of charge or evolve requirements including pricing structure for additional value-added services on a reasonable and transparent basis to be applied in a non-discriminatory manner with prior intimation to the customers. Banks are required to put in place a reasonable pricing structure for value added services or prescribe minimum balance requirements which should be displayed prominently and also informed to the customers at the time of account opening. Offering such additional facilities should be non - discretionary, non-discriminatory and transparent to all ‘Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account’ customers. However such accounts enjoying additional facilities will not be treated as BSBDAs.

Response

Yes. Please refer to response to the above query (Query No.14). However, if the bank does not levy any additional charges and offers more facilities free than those prescribed under BDBDA a/cs without minimum balance then such accounts can be classified as BSBDA.

Response

No. In BSBDA, banks are required to provide free of charge minimum four withdrawals, through ATMs and other mode including RTGS/NEFT/Clearing/Branch cash withdrawal/transfer/internet debits/standing instructions/EMI etc. It is left to the banks to either offer free or charge for additional withdrawal/s. However, in case the banks decide to charge for the additional withdrawal, the pricing structure may be put in place by banks on a reasonable, non-discriminatory and transparent manner by banks.

Response

Banks should offer the ATM Debit Cards free of charge and no Annual fee should be levied on such Cards.

Response

Balance enquiry through ATMs should not be counted in the four withdrawals allowed free of charge at ATMs.

Response

ATM debit cards may be offered at the time of opening BSBDA and issued if the customer requests for the same in writing. Banks need not force ATM debit cards on such customers.

Response

Banks while opening the BSBDA should educate such customers about the ATM Debit Card, ATM PIN and risk associated with it. However, if customer chooses not to have ATM Debit Card banks need not force ATM debit cards on such customers. If, however, customer opts to have an ATM Debit Card, banks should provide the same to BSBDA holders through safe delivery channels by adopting the same procedure which they have been adopting for delivery of ATM Debit Card and PIN to their other customers.