Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked banks not to classify zero balance accounts, which are opened for the beneficiaries of Government schemes like direct benefit transfer (CBS), even if there is no activity in the account for two years.
The regulator said the Central and State Governments had been expressing difficulty in crediting cheques/direct benefit transfer/electronic benefit transfer/scholarship amounts in these accounts as they are also classified as inoperative due to non-operation for two years.
“The banks will, based on the purpose of opening the account, segregate the aforementioned accounts in their CBS, so that the stipulation of ‘inoperative’ account is not applicable to these accounts due to their non-operation for a period of more than two years,” the RBI said on January 1.
An account that has not been operated for two years is classified as inoperative. The RBI said customers have to submit KYC documents afresh for reactivating the account.