Private and foreign banks are more customer-friendly than public sector banks when it comes to courier/ postage charges levied for collection of outstation cheques as well as other on services like sending statements and cheque books, according to a study released on Tuesday by the Reserve Bank of India.

However, have a different say. According to them, unlike private and foreign banks, they help maintain a large number of small and no-frill accounts at a subsidised cost and therefore it was not viable to take on an additional subsidy on actual charges regarding courier/ postage as well as costs incurred on sending statements, cheque books and other documents by post.

The study showed that foreign banks like ABN Amro Bank, Bank of America and Citibank as well as private banks like Kotak Mahindra Bank have no charges for courier/postage for collection of outstation cheques, while public sector banks like State Bank of Mysore levy 125% of the actual charges recovered for the same. Standard Chartered Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC, Axis Bank and Yes Bank do not charge for sending statements/cheque books and other documents by post.

Private lender ICICI Bank has only collection charges and does not levy any additional actual postage/courier charges for collection of outstation cheque. HDFC charges a flat rate of Rs 25 for courier/ postage charges for collection of outstation cheques.

The country?s largest bank, the government-owned State Bank of India charges Rs 15 for ordinary post and Rs 35 for registered post/courier for collection of each outstation cheque and also for sending statements, chequebooks and other documents by post/courier. It is the same for State Bank of Mysore too. Canara Bank charges Rs 10 and Rs 30 for each ordinary and registered post respectively, while Central Bank of India levies Rs 50 for each registered post.

?The RBI will be conducting such studies from time to time in respect of other charges and will put the results on the website,? Alpana Killawala, chief general manager, RBI, said in a statement.

Asked about the objective of the study, she said it was meant to empower every customer with the knowledge of actual charges levied on them and also showing them that they have an option to choose banks that are offering low or nil such service charges. She added that the customer could also demand their banks to lower the charges showing this comparison. RBI, however, cannot regulate these charges of banks.

MBN Rao, chairman & managing director, Canara Bank and chairman, Indian Banks Association, said, ?It is always preferable that banks are transparent regarding what they charge the customer. But at the same time, customers also need to know all the costs incurred by the public sector banks for maintaining all these accounts and then compare it with these postal charges.?

Pointing out that public sector banks are into mass banking than class banking, he said, ?On the other hand, foreign banks and private banks have a lot of high networth individual accounts with high minimum balances.? Since these banks make a profit in the inter-bank transactions using the money in these accounts, to that extent, they can easily afford to cross-subsidise by not charging courier charges, he added.

As HNIs usually maintain a large balance and buy financial instruments including mutual funds as well as housing and other loans, it is easy for foreign and private banks to subsidise the courier charges that are negligible compared to the profits from the other operations.

Following representations from the public on unreasonable and non-transparent service charges by banks, the RBI, in 2006, examined the need for fairness in fixing these charges and came out with a report of the ?working group to formulate a scheme for ensuring reasonableness of bank charges?. The report had said that banks? charges can be considered as reasonable if, in providing their services to the customers, the banks show consistently flexibility, empathy and consideration and do not take advantage of the customer.