Minimum balance

19 Jul, 2005

A lot is appearing in the Press against the requirement of maintaining a minimum balance in the bank accounts, which most small account holders cannot do and are consequently penalised monthly for the various amounts as per each bank's own policy.
There is yet another aspect to it also. For example; the Union Bank asks for a minimum balance of Rs one lakh, which the small businessmen find extremely difficult to maintain. They have to make frequent petty payments to their vendors and do not have enough funds to maintain the required minimum balance.
In order not to be penalised by the bank for not maintaining the minimum balance, they are forced to borrow money from other sources and have to doctor their books to avoid tax return complications. Could the State Bank please come to the rescue of honest small businessmen by asking the banks not to impose such condition on small business account holders?

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