The country's leading public run bank, PNB, has recovered a total of Rs. 278.66 crore as penalty charges for non-maintenance of minimum balance from poor account holders during the FY 2018-19.

The revelation to this effect was made after an RTI activist Gaur in MP's Neemuch district asked the bank on the details regarding how much amount was recovered in the last 2 fiscal years due to non-maintenance of minimum balance in current and savings account. Notably, the amount has been recovered from some 12.7 million customers.

Further, as per the data revealed the penalty amount has gone up by 32% in comparison to the previous year.

Gaur said: "The penalty charged by a bank for not keeping the minimum amount in the accounts is a penalty on poverty.

"It should be reviewed immediately in the larger public interest and recovery of all such penalty charges should be stopped with immediate effect," he added.

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