Bulk charges in Indian banks refer to charges levied on customers who exceed certain limits on transactions or services. These charges are typically applied to customers who exceed the limits set by the bank on cash transactions, number of cheque leaves, ATM transactions, and other services. For instance, Indian Bank imposes bulk charges on customers who exceed more than 50 cheque leaves in a year. Bulk charges are essentially small fees, aka charges being levied by the Indian bank for the services it provides. They can be of a wide variety, from net banking to managing large lump sum money transactions. Some examples of bulk charges in Indian banks are:

• SMS Charges: Registering your mobile number is mandatory in Indian Bank. A customer can get OTP, account updates, and net banking for free. However, if you use the SMS functionality actively for credit/debit transactions, a charge of 15rs every quarter is levied.

• ATM Charges: If you’re using the Indian Bank ATM, there are no charges placed on you. However, if you are doing cash transactions in other banks, a fee is charged to you. The Indian Bank provides a free transaction threshold to its customers. You can do three free transactions in the Metro cities and five in Non-metro areas.

• Cash Handling Charges: When a customer remits large cash, banks collect cash handling charges. This is known as bulk charges. The charges are levied to meet the cost of counting and remittance to the Reserve Bank of India.

To avoid bulk charges in Indian Bank, one can maintain a minimum balance in their account, which helps reduce the likelihood of being charged fees for insufficient funds or overdrawn accounts. Additionally, customers can speak with their bank to find out if there are any exemptions or waivers available to them.