Grahakjago (S.K.Virmani)©

whether the charges for SMS alert fee being deducted by Punjab National Bank are ethical?             This blog had earlier published following articles on SMS alert fee being charged by banks specially State Bank of India (SBI) to draw the attention of the Bank, Regulator namely Reserve Bank of India  (RBI) and Ministry of Finance. The links to the articles are given below for an easy access.  1. Do the charges for SMS services being charged by State Bank of India  are ethical ?      http://skvirmani-jagograhak.blogspot.com/2014/04/do-charges-for-sms-services-being.html 2. Unethical business revenue by banks on account of charging SMS Alert Services      http://skvirmani-jagograhak.blogspot.com/2014/08/unethical-business-revenue-by-banks-on.html 3. Need for intervention of Reserve Bank of India to put a stop on the unfair business practices of the Commercial Banks on a/c of SMS Aler...

Govt. of India came out with an idea to encourage Digital payments. The digital payment has an exponential growth during demonetization as the legal currency of denomination of Rs. 500/- and Rs. 1,000/- was withdrawn overnight  to be replaced with new currency of denomination of Rs. 500/- and Rs. 2,000/-. All of a sudden the citizens were deprived on even meeting their daily needs and hence the digital payment industry saw the boom during demonetization. It is alwayz better to use digital payments as one get rid of carrying on cash in the wallets. The other advantage could be security and safety of both notes as well as that of the person carrying the currency. Ideally the use of digital payment does not only address the security issue but it is also cost effective. The perceived advantage in the digital payment process could be less operational cost for both merchant as well as Government and Banks as well as: 1. Less cost towards printing and distribution of currency at t...

  Weather your bank is refusing to accept Scribbled Notes ? If we believe social media reports, there seems to be a news that Banks are refusing to accept the scribbled notes. While there is a policy of the Govt. about "Clean Note Policy", However, the banks cannot refuse to accept the scribbled notes, the Banking Regulator Reserve Bank of India (RBI) says so. As usual with every "right" there is a "responsibility" associated. It is our responsibility that we should not write anything on the bank notes and keep the bank notes safely. Reserve Bank of India vide its notification No. ID.(Res.). No. 4530/04.00.001/2016-17 dated April 25,2017 has clarified that scribbled/coloured/faded bank notes are to be accepted from members of general public by all banks and the same may be treated as soiled notes. The said notification is reproduced below: Next time when you face any refusal from the banks in acceptance of the scribbled/coloured/faded bank notes...

Shri S.K. Virmani, Consumer Activist associated with Jago Grahak Jago movement have been raising voice against unfair business practices of banking industry. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is silent on such unfair business practices. Discussing on CNBC Awaaz Pahredar.  

Do you face any issue with Banks or the Merchants charging any additional fee as transaction fee for transacting through debit cards ?  Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued order against Pernicious practices of select banks deterring customer protection and accounting integrity vide their order No. RBI/2013-14/292 DBS.CO.PPD No. 3578/ 11.01.005/2013-14 dtd. 17th September 2013 . The plain reading of the above referred order suggest that the Banks or any Merchant cannot charge any additional amount towards transaction fee for making payment through usage of debit cards. The relevant portion of the order is reproduced for ready reference of the readers so that they are able to raise their voice against unethical business practices of those banks and the merchants who are charging any transaction fee. "4. Levying fees on debit card transactions by merchants - There are instances where merchant establishments levy fee as a percentage of the transaction vale as charges on c...

Need for intervention of Reserve Bank of India to put a stop on the unfair business practices of the Commercial Banks on a/c of SMS Alert Fee amounting to estimated Rs. 5,000 crores in a year This is in continuation to my article titled " Unethical business revenue by banks on account of charging SMS Alert Services" was brought out on this blog on 5th April 2014 and 28th August 2014. The link to the article is: http://skvirmani-jagograhak.blogspot.in/2014/08/unethical-business-revenue-by-banks-on.html  Subsequent to the article, Reserve Bank of India has now been requested vide my letter dtd. 03/08/2015 to intervene in the matter and direct all Banks to refund amount to the account holders earned out of unethical business business in violation of RBI regulations. A copy of the letter requesting RBI and other Departments is quoted below: " Date: 03/08/2015 Chief General Manager Reserve Bank of India Consumer Education and Protection Department, Central Office, ...

Volvo Cars have come out with an advertisement in The Times of India dtd. 04/12/2014 with following terms which are subject matter of this blog. The main attraction of the title of the advertisement is "100% Luxury. 0% Interest rate." 1. Interest Free Loan for First two years 2. Insurance Free                                                                                                      Times of India dtd. 04/12/2014 The author of the blog has been raising up the issues with Ad...

An article titled "Do the charges for SMS services being charged by State Bank of India are ethical?" was written on the blog on 5th April 2014. A copy of the article was mailed to State Bank of India. However, the amount got refunded. Such unethical charging for SMS Alert Services is not only by the SBI but almost all banks with exception of UCO Bank resorting to. While most of the banks are charging Rs. 15/- per qtr., UCO bank is just charging Rs. 0.12 per SMS for transactions. All the consumers are facing the same problem and even the consumers may not be aware of such money being deducted from their account.  It is understood that the matter was taken up by  Department of Consumer Affairs  with Department of Financial Services of Ministry of Finance. The view points were concurred by the Ministry of Finance. It is learnt that Ministry of Finance has also directed all the Banks and RBI and IBA to ensure that RBI's directives are implemented immediately and furthe...

Why Banks should charge transaction fee for use of ATM cards? Indian Banks Association is learnt to have requested RBI to allow banks to charge customers in the metros to pay for accessing ATMs of other banks but continue with the current cap of five free transactions a month for rural customers. The IBA also says that banks are loosing Rs. 400 crore a month because of the excess security requirement at 1.4 lak ATMs. IBA also need to consider following factors before they request the regulator RBI for allowing them to charge fee from the customers. 1. Use of ATMs have definitely reduced the burden on the banks as it has also resulted into reduction in manhours for dispensing cash from its cash counters. Indirectly it has facilitated for diversion of resources and increased business avenues and efficiency.  In fact some banks are charging annual card fee which also need to be withdrawn as the cost of operation has not increased. The technology always reduces the cost...

Do the charges for SMS services being charged by State Bank of India are ethical ? To keep pace with the technology for safe banking, SMS alerts are issued as and when any banking transaction (credit/debit) take place. However such charges need to be levied not as a scope of generating revenue to their business. As a normal telecom users, the charges for SMS usage is Rs. 1.00 per SMS. However, the bulk SMSes cost something around Rs. 0.05 per SMS. Some of the banks even do not charge any money from their customers as it is a win-win situation for both i.e Banks as service providers and the customers on the other hand. Service Providers are benefitted as their liability also get reduced due to safe banking and the customer also get benefitted as he is immediately informed if some fraudlent transaction take place.     However a glaring example has come where the customer has carried out two transactions in one year namely one transaction of crediting online transf...