Private sector bank Axis Bank has recently increased various service charges for its savings bank account holders. This is bad news for Axis Bank customers. Let us inform that many changes made in the service charge were implemented by Axis Bank from 1 May 2021. While some other charges are going to be effective from July 1. Axis Bank has increased the cash withdrawal charge from ATMs over and above the free limit. Along with this, the minimum balance limit for various types of savings accounts has also been increased. Now the bank has announced to increase the charge for one more service.
SMS charge going to increase
After the new system introduced by the Telecom Regulatory Authority, the bank has announced to change its SMS charges. The bank informed the customers that from July 2021, each SMS alert will attract a charge of 25 paise. This charge will be maximum Rs 25 per month. However, these messages will not include promotional text messages, messages sent to customers or OTPs sent for transactions.
About 5 times increased charge
Axis Bank has made a big change in its SMS charges due to the recent changes in the telecom regulator. Instead of directly charging Rs 5 per month, it has decided to charge 25 paise per SMS alert subject to a maximum of Rs 25 per month. That is, you have to pay up to 5 times the charge. These charges will be applicable from July 1. Please note that there will be no SMS alert charges on premium, staff, pension, small and basic accounts etc.
Why the increased charges
In the new telecom rules, a special standard has been made mandatory for bulk messages. SMS not matching this format get blocked. The process of authenticating SMS alert messages is called ‘scrubbing’. According to a report, some money is spent on scrubbing. The bank has increased the charge to recover this coming cost. Other banks may also announce similar changes in SMS charges.
Axis Bank Withdrawal Charge
Axis Bank has given the facility of 4 transactions or free withdrawal of Rs 2 lakh in a month for the account holders. On this, there will be a charge for withdrawing cash. Above this, Rs 5 or maximum Rs 150 has to be paid per thousand.
increased charge
The bank has doubled the charge of Rs 5 after free transaction to Rs 10. But the maximum charge rate of Rs 150 has been retained.
