SBI waives service charges: State Bank of India has decided to waive off charges for all ATM transactions made on SBI as well as other banks till 30 June amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The bank issued a statement on their website that read, “In view of the announcement made by the finance minister on 24 March 2020, State Bank of India has decided to waive ATM Service Charges for all ATM transactions made on SBI ATMs and other bank ATMs on account of exceeding the free number of transactions up to 30 June 2020. Stay Home, Stay Safe.”

On 24 March, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced that no charge will be levied on cash withdrawals by a bank’s customer from the ATM of any other bank for three months, i.e. till June 30. Debit cardholders can withdraw cash for free from any other banks’ ATM for three months, the FM had said. ” …so you may have a debit card from a bank, a particular bank, but you will now be allowed, without additional charges, to draw cash from any other bank’s ATM for the next three months,” the Finance Minister had said while announcing the COVID-19 package for the country.

SBI offers eight free transactions to regular savings bank account holders, including five transactions at SBI ATMs and three at other bank ATMs. In non-metros, such account holders get 10 free transactions, including five at SBI ATMs and five at others. Thereafter, it charges 20 plus GST per financial transaction and 8 plus GST for the non-financial transaction as mentioned on the bank’s website.

The government had also mentioned that no minimum balance requirement fee will be charged from account holders over the next three months as well

Earlier, State bank of India customers were allowed three free transactions in six metro centres (Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad & Bengaluru) and five free transactions at other centres.

India has registered over 13,000 cases of COVID-19 with at least 430 deaths from the dreaded disease.