In yet another measure to curb black money and prevent illegal transactions, Reserve Bank of India on Friday announced that those who deposited over Rs 2 lakh after November 9 without Permanent Account Number (PAN), won’t be able to operate the respective bank accounts. The central bank, however, said that account holders will be able to activate their accounts after linking those to PAN number or submitting form number 60. Even as 38 days have passed since the shock demonetisation announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8, the cash crunch doesn’t seem to be easing out. The cash crisis has been apparently exacerbated by hoarding of newly printed currency notes by influential people across the country. Seizure of hundreds of crores of rupees by Income-Tax department officials has exposed how powerful people find their ways to be on top of corruption.
The Reserve Bank also said monthly withdrawal limit of Rs 10,000 will be maintained even if a ‘small account’ has witnessed increase in annual permissible deposit of Rs 1 lakh.The notification follows after it was brought to the notice of the RBI that “strict compliance” with KYC (Know Your Customer) provisions is not being ensured in some cases.
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In respect of KYC compliant accounts where the required Customer Due Diligence (CDD) procedure has been complied with, RBI said banks and NBFCs should ensure compliance regarding quoting of PAN/obtaining of Form 60 for all transactions. “No debit transaction, transfer or otherwise shall be allowed in accounts which do not comply with the above mentioned requirements. “To begin with, this rule shall be strictly applied in accounts where both the thresholds listed — (i) balance of rupees five lakh or more; and (ii) the total deposits (including credits by electronic or other means) made after November 9, 2016, exceed rupees two lakh,” RBI said.
RBI further said if any account is rendered ineligible for being classified as a small account due to credits/balance in the account exceeding the permissible limits, withdrawals may be allowed within the limit prescribed for small accounts. The monthly limit for withdrawal and transfer from a small account is Rs 10,000. Also, aggregate of all credits in a financial year cannot exceed Rs 1 lakh. Basic Savings Bank Deposit Accounts (Jan Dhan accounts are akin to BSBDAs), which are not KYC compliant accounts are to be treated as ‘small accounts’, the RBI added. Government demonetised old Rs 500/1000 from November 9.