Chennai, Aug 22:
Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president and Virudhunagar MP B Manickam Tagore on Saturday criticised the Centre over the proposed charges for cash withdrawals from basic bank accounts, alleging that the Narendra Modi government was imposing a financial burden on poor and vulnerable sections.
In a statement, Tagore said basic bank accounts were introduced in 2005 during the Manmohan Singh-led government to provide banking facilities to economically weaker sections without unnecessary charges. The scheme was later renamed the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana by the BJP-led government, he said.
Claiming that 56 crore such accounts had been opened, including 53 crore by public sector banks, Tagore alleged that banks were now moving towards imposing penalties on account holders for frequent cash withdrawals.
Referring to a reported decision by the State Bank of India, he said customers would be charged Rs 15 for every cash withdrawal beyond four transactions a month, with 18 per cent GST taking the total charge to Rs 17.70 per transaction. He said the proposed charges would come into effect from October 1 and alleged that the move had received regulatory approval.
Tagore said the move could be followed by other banks, potentially increasing the financial burden on people who depend on cash for their daily transactions.
He also alleged that the Centre had sought to impose charges on UPI transactions through an amendment introduced during the recent Parliament session. Such measures, he claimed, could push economically weaker sections back towards cash transactions while simultaneously penalising them for withdrawing money from their bank accounts.
Referring to the impact of the 2016 demonetisation exercise, Tagore said the government had subsequently encouraged people to move towards digital transactions. However, he claimed that currency in circulation had risen from around Rs 9 lakh crore in January 2017 to about Rs 43 lakh crore now.
According to Tagore, the increase showed that a substantial section of the population continued to depend on cash, particularly people without reliable access to internet and electricity.
“The government is attempting to punish these people in the name of charges,” he alleged.
Tagore also criticised banks over loan write-offs, claiming that banks had waived loans worth Rs 16 lakh crore for large corporate borrowers over the past decade while seeking to impose charges on ordinary account holders.
He condemned what he described as “fee exploitation” of poor people and demanded that the proposed charges be withdrawn immediately.