Discussion Unauthorized ₹436 PMJJBY Deduction from Bank Account

[TheRealRohitM]

• Hey friends, I need your help with something annoying that happened with my bank(SBI). They took ₹436 from my account on May 27, 2025, for some insurance thing called PMJJBY (Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana). The problem is, I never signed up for it or agreed to any auto-debit! It’s totally unauthorized, and I’m pretty upset because they didn’t even tell me. This isn’t allowed as per RBI rules, and it’s caused me a headache.

• I am thinking of filing a complaint to the bank tommorow by visting branch (as it's located at walking distance from my home) asking for:

• My ₹436 back with some interest (like 3.5% savings account rate).

• Cancel any link to this insurance so it doesn’t happen again.

• An explanation of why this happened.

• If they say it's subscribed by me i'll ask them to prove it. ( I never subscribed to this)

• ₹5,000 as compensation for the trouble and stress.

• I will also ask them to check if they did this in previous years and refund those amounts too. I'll give them 30 days to fix it, or I’ll take it to the RBI Ombudsman.

Ps. If you guys thinking why to do all this for just ₹436 , they have done simmilar things in my family member's accounts also before for various reasons, i am fed up with all this,

And i never wanted an account in sbi it was opned by my parents for me in around 2016, i've tried to close this account earlier but sbi can't even do that,

I am no mood to forgive them this time, i have never activated netbanking and yono in this account and i also never registered any email, so they can't say that i have activated it online and if they say you have activated it offline they i'll ask for physical/written evidence which they don't have because i've never done that they'll have give me refund + interest + compensation this time.

What do you guys think I should do? Is ₹5,000 fair for compensation, or should I ask for more/less? Should I do anything else to make sure the bank takes this seriously? Any advice or similar experiences? Thanks!

 

[Bapun]

You opened this thread on this topic, so I am sharing my similar awful government scheme experience with another bank (ICICI Bank).

It is probably a problem almost every other person having a bank account facing. Last year, they auto signed up me for a similar government insurance policy scheme (PMSBY) which I never asked for.

Ref. my previous post: ICICI Bank Discussions, News & Updates

On contacting the bank social support via X (twitter), they called me and apologized first then taken a request for scheme cancelation by providing me with a SR number last year. The SR was processed and closed within a few days as confirmation SMS came on my phone.

However, this month, the policy charges was due & deducted. This happened despite my proactive intimation to the bank customer support team twice that the policy hasn't been canceled because despite their assurances I still received SMS alerts for the policy upcoming deduction. I also asked them to make sure no deduction happens.

A week back I received the following SMS:

Your Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana policy with ICICI Bank is scheduled for renewal in May. Please maintain sufficient balance in your account.

And, dang! The amount was finally indeed deducted. I contacted the bank social team once again and asked them to cancel it and refund the deducted amount which they assured to do. They also mailed me confirming the same. However, the amount will be refunded by 25th June 2025 as per the mail.

We inform you that, we have processed request for PMSBY scheme cancellation request through the Service Request Number SRxxxxxxxx it will be processed in 7 working days. The amount will be refunded by June 25, 2025, in your account.

All this can be considered as harassment. But I have not demanded for any compensation.

 

[TheRealRohitM]

All this can be considered as harassment. But I have not demanded for any compensation.

It is harassment in my opinion, if they do it once and apologize and resolve issue it's fine if they repeat this again then it is harassment, that's what they did with both of us and if we don't teach them a lesson then they will do some big fraud next time, talking as per personal experience not sharing that here because it's not related to this,

In around 2017 there was an unauthorized credit and debit of around 8k transaction in one of my family members account (SBI),

Recently my in my sister's account(SBI) they deducted ₹259 as excess atm usage charges (not talking about annual charges) but she used in limit only around 3 - 4 time only,

That's why doing all this.

 

[Skye]

Similar thing happened with my brother's SBI acc, but for just Rs. 20.

It was quite annoying, even though the amount was negligible. We just hated being charged for something, just so those people can complete their quota.

He raised complaint in the bank but they did nothing, and the bank manager even had guts to say that he will give that Rs. 20 to my brother from his own pocket.

At last, my brother raised complaint with RBI and shortly after that, the amount was refunded and the insurance was cancelled.

 

[Arpan Ghosh]

Similar issue
@Bapun at least you got SMS/email before deduction, I didn't get that either. Suddenly I saw it on my bank statement.

 

[TheRealRohitM]

Update regarding post #1

Today i went to bank with required documents and an written complaint (2 copy's) i submitted one copy and asked them to stamp sign and put date on 2nd copy so i will use it as an receipt,

As i don't trust them, now i have an proof that i have complained them about issue, now i'll wait for 30 days and will see what they do, if they don't resolve this issue under 30 days i will escalate this issue to RBI and respective authorities,

Ps. First time in my life i had good experience in SBI all process took only 5 minute.

 

[Skye]

Ps. First time in my life i had good experience in SBI all process took only 5 minute.

Damn, my brother had to visit them multiple times for that alone.

And even I never had good experience with SBI. Even creating account with them was annoying because they kept seeing another account in my name. And since I am ICICI user, it was even more annoying, because ICICI always gave me VVIP-like feeling whenever I visited them.

 

[TheRealRohitM]

Update regarding post #1 and #6.

On saturday evening i recived call from bank he said he said we have recived your complaint and 228 was also deducted from your account last year in december we will also refund that with intrest.

He asked me to vist bank on 2nd june (today)
And meet cheif manager, so i went to bank today.

This time again had very good experince with sbi when i reached bank i called same person he asked me to wait a few minutes so he can talk to manager about this issue.

Then he asked me to go to cheif manager office, he was very polite meeting with him was around 1 hour long as he was trying to justify this issue.

He was saying if you had met me before then there was no need of complaint i could have resolved it but still i don't trust them they were talking so sweet because it's their mistake i assume.

We agreed on 436 and 228 refund with intrest and and 150 photocopy and complaint letter writing charges, he said amount will be credited in max 2 days.

Ps. I was asking for more amount but he was refusing i wanted to close this account as i have other good ones now, this refund amount will take 2 days around to get credited so i can not close this now, i will need to visit branch again he solved this issue so agreed on above mentioned amount as this saved my time and money.

 

[Bapun]

And, dang! The amount was finally indeed deducted. I contacted the bank social team once again and asked them to cancel it and refund the deducted amount which they assured to do. They also mailed me confirming the same. However, the amount will be refunded by 25th June 2025 as per the mail.

We inform you that, we have processed request for PMSBY scheme cancellation request through the Service Request Number SRxxxxxxxx it will be processed in 7 working days. The amount will be refunded by June 25, 2025, in your account.

I just found that the insurance charged amount was refunded to my account. Much earlier than the 25th June, which was their promised timeline.