The monetary penalty was imposed against Axis Bank INR50m ($0.83m), HDFC Bank INR45m ($0.75m) and ICICI Bank INR 10m ($0.16m).
State Bank of India (SBI), Bank of India, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Central Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank and Federal Bank, each will have to pay INR30m ($0.50m) in fine.
Apart from serving cautionary letters to seven lenders, including Citibank and Stanchart, RBI has ordered United Bank of India, Lakshmi Vilas Bank, Punjab National Bank, Jammu & Kashmir Bank and Andhra Bank to pay INR25m ($0.41m) each.
It has also fined Yes Bank, Vijaya Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Dhanlaxmi Bank a penalty of INR20m ($0.33m) each, after investigating the charges leveled by an online portal Cobrapost.
In a statement, RBI said, "After considering the facts of each case…Reserve Bank came to conclusion that some of the violations were substantiated and warranted imposition of monetary penalty…"
The apex bank added that "the investigation did not reveal any prima facie evidence of money laundering. However, any conclusive inference in this regard can be drawn only by an end to end investigation of the transactions by tax and enforcement agencies."
