Bank boards can decide on waiving penalty on minimum balance: Karad

The boards of individual banks can decide on waiving the penalty on accounts, which do not maintain a minimum balance, Union Minister of State for Finance Bhagwant Kishanrao Karad on Wednesday said.
“Banks are independent bodies. They have boards which can take a decision to waive off the penalty,” Karad told reporters here.
The minister was responding to a question if the Centre would consider directing banks not to charge any penalty from the accounts where the balance falls below the prescribed minimum levels.
Karad was on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir to review the implementation of various financial schemes in the Union Territory.
The minister said the banks in Jammu and Kashmir had done a good job over the years and directed them to improve their performance on those parameters where they are lagging behind the national average.
“I have told the banks in Jammu and Kashmir to hold Saturday camps to bring the percentage of Jan Dhan Yojana accounts closer to the national