Why not just use Bank CSV?

TL;DR: Bank CSVs are inconsistent, limited, and missing GST fields. This tool gives you one schema for all banks, full history, and GSTR-2A reconciliation.

The Problem with Bank CSVs

Most Indian banks offer CSV downloads, but they're designed for human viewing — not for automated processing at scale.

Aspect	Bank CSV	This Tool
Schema	Different per bank (HDFC/ICICI/SBI/Axis all differ)	One unified schema for all banks
Date format	DD/MM/YYYY, DD-MM-YYYY, YYYY-MM-DD, DD MMM YYYY	Normalized to YYYY-MM-DD
Amounts	1,000.00, 1000.00, signed/unsigned, debit/credit mixed	Decimal, separate debit/credit columns
History	Usually 90–180 days	Full statement period (years via PDF)
Credit cards	Many banks don't offer CSV for cards	Parses card PDFs
GSTR-2A	No GSTIN, invoice numbers, place of supply, HSN	GSTR-2A ready CSV with all required fields
Bulk processing	Manual download per account	parse-bank-statements --input-dir ./clients --bank hdfc
Offline/air-gapped	Requires login + download	Works on PDFs only, no network
Regional variants	SBI has 20+ regional formats	Handles all via regex patterns

Real-World Scenarios

CA Firm (50+ clients/month)

# Without tool: Manual download, open each CSV, fix columns, merge
# With tool:
parse-bank-statements --input-dir ./client-statements --bank hdfc --output-dir ./parsed

Lender (Income verification)

# Need standardized income data from multiple banks
df = parse_statements(input_dir="./borrower-statements", bank="sbi")
# All transactions in same schema, ready for analysis

GST Practitioner

# Generate GSTR-2A upload format
df = parse_statements(
    input_dir="./client-statements",
    bank="icici",
    reconcile_gstr2a=True,
    gstin="29ABCDE1234F1Z5"
)
df.to_csv("gstr2a_upload.csv", index=False)

When Bank CSV is Fine

• Personal finance (1-2 accounts)
• Occasional manual review
• No GST reconciliation needed
• Recent transactions only (last 90 days)

When You Need This Tool

• Scale: Processing 10+ statements/month
• Multi-bank: HDFC + ICICI + SBI in same workflow
• GST: GSTR-2A reconciliation required
• History: Need full year+ of transactions
• Credit cards: Banks don't offer CSV for cards
• Automation: CI/CD pipelines, scheduled jobs
• Offline: Air-gapped environments, no bank login

The Unified Output Schema

date,description,debit,credit,balance,ref_no,category
2024-01-15,"UPI-PAYMENT TO MERCHANT",500.00,,45000.00,UPI123456789,debit
2024-01-16,"SALARY CREDIT",,120000.00,165000.00,SAL987654321,credit

Column	Type	Description
date	date	Transaction date (YYYY-MM-DD)
description	string	Raw transaction narration
debit	float	Debit amount (empty if credit)
credit	float	Credit amount (empty if debit)
balance	float	Running balance after transaction
ref_no	string	Bank reference/UTR number
category	string	debit or credit

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Bottom line: If you process statements at scale, need GST reconciliation, or want one schema for all banks — this tool saves hours of manual cleanup every month.