SBI Does Away With Minimum Balance Requirement In Savings Accounts

The country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday said it is doing away with minimum balance requirement in savings accounts. It also rationalises interest rate on savings bank accounts to a flat 3 per cent per annum. The bank has also reduced its fixed deposit rates for certain tenors and marginal cost of funds-based lending rates (MCLR) across various tenors.

It rationalised interest rate on all savings bank (SB) accounts to a flat 3 per cent, a move affecting 44.51 crore account holders. Keeping in mind the 'Customers First' approach, the bank further said it has also waived SMS charges, which will bring significant relief to all the customers.

“Bank has also rationalised interest rate on SB Account to a flat 3 % p.a. for all buckets," it said. Currently, the interest rate on SB accounts is 3.25 per cent for deposits up to Rs 1 lakh in SB accounts, and 3 per cent for deposits above Rs 1 lakh.

The State Bank of India (SBI) decided to waive maintenance of Average Monthly Balance (AMB) for all SB accounts. "The charges on maintaining AMB are now waived off on all 44.51 crore SBI savings bank accounts," it said.

Currently, SBI customers need to maintain AMB of Rs 3,000, Rs 2,000 and Rs 1,000 in metro, semi urban and rural areas, respectively. The bank used to levy a penalty of Rs 5 to Rs 15 plus taxes on non-maintenance of AMB.