SBI Alert! Bank hikes locker charges from March 31; Check how much you will have to pay
The State Bank of India (SBI), India's largest lender, has announced a hike in rental charges for its safe deposit lockers across India. The new rental charges will be effective from March 31, 2020.
According to an announcement on the bank's official website, the annual rental charges of an SBI locker will go up by Rs 500-3,000, after the rate hike, depending on the size of the locker and the city the account holder has the locker in.
For instance, for a small locker in a metro or urban city, rental charges have been hiked by ₹500 to ₹2,000 while For a large locker, the fees have been hiked by Rs 2,000 to Rs 8,000 in metro and urban cities. The rental charges for the extra-large locker will come at an annual rent of ₹12,000 now instead of ₹9,000.
SBI's medium size locker will be expensive by ₹1,000 to ₹4,000 while the large locker's rent will be up by ₹2,000 to ₹8,000. These rates are applicable only in metro cities and urban areas and exclude GST.
SBI branches offer cheaper locker services in semi-urban and rural areas where the rates begin from ₹1,500 and go up to ₹9,000. Across all SBI branches, the rate hike is about 33%.
(Charges excluding GST)
Source: SBI website
SBI Bank also imposes a 'one-time locker registration' charge of ₹500 plus GST for small and medium lockers while for large and extra-large lockers, you have to pay ₹1,000 plus GST. A delay in paying the locker rent charges on time can lead to a penalty as high as 40%.
According to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regulations, banks are allowed to open your locker if you have not operated it at least once in a year. But banks are required to send you a notice asking you to either operate the locker or surrender it.
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