SBI likely to revise minimum balance requirement for Savings Bank Account

Mumbai: State Bank of India (SBI) may revise the present minimum balance requirement for Savings Bank Account.

According to the report published in TOI, SBI may revise minimum balance requirement under the pressure from Government of India

It may be mentioned that the present minimum balance requirement is Rs. 3, 000 in Urban centers.

It is also reported that SBI is likely to change the monthly average balance to quarterly average balance.

SBI after collecting Rs. 1772 crore by imposing penalties for not maintaining minimum balance requirement for the period from April to November 2017, may take these steps.

The bank may change the minimum balance requirement from Rs. 3000 to Rs. 1000, TOI reported.

If any Savings Bank Account holder fails to maintain minimum balance requirement, he/she has to pay penalties.

It may be mentioned that SBI had re-introduced Minimum Balance Requirement of Rs. 5000 last year. However, it later reduced this amount to Rs. 3000. SBI had also exempted this requirement for Basic Saving Bank Deposit Account, Financial Inclusion Accounts, Salary Package Accounts and Small Accounts, Pehla Kadam and Pehli Udaan accounts, Minors up to the age of 18 and Pensioners.

However, when media persons contacted the bank officials, they said that so far, no decision has been taken to revise the minimum balance requirement.

It may be noted that the minimum balance requirement of SBI is higher than many Public Sector Banks (PSB). However, it is lower than large private sector banks.

Earlier, SBI had said that these charges are being imposed to meet the expenses including linking bank accounts with Aadhaar and increased operational costs due to rise in the number of Jan Dhan accounts.