Public outcry forces State Bank to slash minimum balance to `3,000

Under public pressure, SBI on Monday announced that it has revised the minimum Monthly Average Balance (MAB) requirement to `3,000 against `5,000 in metros and also brought down penalties for non-adherence.

The minimum monthly average balance in semiurban remains at `2,000 and rural at `1,000.

The bank has now decided to exempt pensioners, beneficiaries of social benefits from the government and accounts of minors from non-maintenance of MAB. It said that the penalty for non-maintenance of MAB have also been revised downward ranging from 20 per cent to 50 per cent across all population groups and categories. The charges at semi-urban and rural centres range from `20 to `40 and at urban and metro centres from `30 to `50.

The revised requirement and charges will become applicable from the month of October 2017.

Earlier, in the metros, the bank was charging `100 plus GST if the balance fell below 75 per cent of the MAB of `5,000. If the shortfall was 50 per cent or less, the penalty charge was `50 plus GST.

Any shortfall in rural areas was attracting a penalty in the range of `20 to `50 plus GST. SBI said that the revision is likely to benefit 5 crore account holders.

SBI said that the Jan Dhan accounts have never been subject to any charges. It said that it has 42 crores savings bank accounts out of which 13 crore accounts under PMJDY and Basic Savings Bank Deposit Accounts were already exempted. “The above revision is likely to benefit another 5 crore account holders,” it said.

SBI pointed out that customer always has the option of converting to basic savings accounts account, free of charge, in case he desires to avail basic savings bank facilities without being subject to maintaining minimum monthly average balance.