Private sector banks collected Rs 4,948.71 crore from account holders in FY26 for failing to maintain the minimum average balance in their current and savings accounts, Parliament was informed on Tuesday.
Public sector banks (PSBs), for their part, collected Rs 2,137.92 crore over the same period for the same reason, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
Together, the two categories of lenders collected over Rs 7,086 crore from customers during the year.
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Citing Reserve Bank of India data, Chaudhary said HDFC Bank collected the highest amount among private lenders at Rs 1,798.14 crore, followed by Axis Bank at Rs 1,081.33 crore. The two banks alone accounted for Rs 2,879.47 crore, or 58% of the total collected by 19 private-sector banks, the minister said.
Chaudhary clarified that no penal charges are levied on Basic Savings Bank Deposit Accounts, including those opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana.
Responding to a separate question, the minister said the financial health of PSBs had improved significantly, citing healthy balance sheets, historically high profits and multi-decadal low levels of gross non-performing assets. He added that PSBs had recorded sustained credit growth across sectors of the economy.
Chaudhary also told the Rajya Sabha that the government had rolled out the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme 5.0 (ECLGS 5.0) in May 2026 to help businesses tide over short-term liquidity mismatches arising from the West Asia crisis.
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