Govt turning banks into ‘collection agents of loot’: Kharge on ATM fee hike

On Saturday, the Congress criticized the Modi administration following the RBI’s choice to permit banks to raise fees on ATM cash withdrawals, claiming that banks have turned into “collection agents” to “plunder” citizens.

Providing a list of fees imposed by banks, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge stated that a “painful” increase in prices and “unchecked plunder” was the BJP’s slogan.

“Our banks have been unfortunately made ‘collection agents’ by the Modi government! ATM withdrawal charges to be costlier,” Kharge said in a post on X.

“The Modi government has extracted at least Rs 43,500 crore due to non-maintenance of minimum balance from savings accounts and Jan Dhan accounts combined, between 2018 and 2024,” he said.

“Other bank charges to LOOT citizens – an inactivity fee, which is Rs 100-200 every year. Bank statement issuance fee is Rs 50-100. Rs 20-25 per quarter is charged for SMS alerts. Banks charge 1-3 per cent as loan processing fees,” he added.

The Congress chief also claimed that if a loan is paid on time, loan pre-closure charges are levied by banks, and NEFT and demand draft charges are an additional burden. KYC updates like signature changes also attract fees, he claimed.

“Earlier, the Union government used to provide the data of the amount collected by these charges in the Parliament, but now this practice has also been discontinued by saying ‘RBI doesn’t maintain such data’.

“Painful Price Rise + Unbridled Loot = BJP’s Mantra for Extortion!,” Kharge posted.