NEW DELHI: If you have a Post Office savings account, you will now have to maintain a minimum balance of Rs 500 from December 11, failing which the post office will charge a penalty of Rs 100 plus GST.
According to a notification by India Post, in case the account balance is not raised to Rs 500 at the end of financial year, a fee of Rs 100 will be deducted as Account Maintenance Fee. If the account balance becomes Nil, the account shall stand automatically closed, the notification added.
These new rules are effective from December 11. Post office savings accounts currently offer an interest rate of four per cent per annum on both individual and joint accounts. The notification also said that in case there has been no transaction activity in an account for three consecutive financial years, then the account shall be treated as silent or dormant.
For such accounts, fresh KYC documents and passbook will need to be submitted along with an application in case the user wants to revive it. Currently, all one requires to open a post office account is Rs 500. The minimum withdrawal amount is Rs 50, while there is no maximum deposit limit.
Officials added that this measure will help in cleaning up many dormant accounts which were not being used and the collection of the penalties will help in the maintenance of India Post. According to current rules, only one post office savings account can be opened by an individual. India Post also offers several small savings schemes.