The Reserve Bank of India has imposed a penalty of Rs 5.62 lakh on State Bank of India for violation of the terms of agreement for opening and maintaining currency chests.

The penalty has been levied in connection with the deficiencies/lapses observed in the operation and maintenance of the Currency Chest at SBI, Secunderabad branch, the RBI said in a statement.

In this regard, the RBI statement referred to paragraph 3 (v) of the circular relating to the scheme of incentives and penalties for bank branches based on performance in rendering customer service.

The paragraph relates to violation of any term of the agreement with RBI (for opening and maintaining currency chests) or deficiency in service in providing exchange facilities, as detected by RBI officials.

Further, the RBI also referred to paragraph 1 (e) of the circular relating to levy of penal interest for delayed reporting / wrong reporting / non-reporting of currency chest transactions and inclusion of ineligible amounts in currency chest balances.

The relevant para relates to wrong reporting and levy of penal interest.

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