Jan Dhan Accounts converted to Regular Bank accounts

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had forwarded sending bulk SMSs to promote the ‘zero balance, zero charges’ account.  Crores of basic savings bank deposit account holders, including schemes of Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana accounts are exposed to vulnerability to freeze the bank accounts.

Only 4 debits a month are allowed in these accounts, and since banks are not allowed to impose any kind of charge on customers, many are freezing the accounts once four transactions are complete. Few banks like HDFC and Citi are converting these accounts into regular ones if the number of transactions exceeds four. Resultantly, the account holder pays a regular penalty if minimum balance is not maintained.