Banking and monetary regulator Reserve Bank of India has imposed penalty on as many as 48 small banks all over the country on charges of violation of Know Your Customer (KYC) guidelines.

In a period of only six months, 48 banks have been fined by the apex bank. Most of the penalized banks are of cooperative bank stature.

These lenders have been found not to be adhering properly to KYC as well as anti money laundering (AML) standards.

"RBI is sending right signals as laxity on KYC norms is a serious matter as it compromises transparency," Crisil Principal Economist D K Joshi said.