Every bank wants their customers to keep a minimum balance either on a monthly or a quarterly basis in their savings account. If you fail to keep the minimum balance in your savings account, then you might be liable for some penalty charges. However, every bank has different sets of minimum balance rule though. Every savings account rule says that customers have to maintain a minimum balance. It can range from Rs.1000 to Rs.10,000 in PSU lender SBI and also in Private banks like ICICI and HDFC.
If by any means you fail to maintain the minimum balance which has been set by your bank, then you will be liable to pay the penalty which can be anywhere between Rs. 5 to Rs. 600. Please note that the amount of minimum balance differs from bank to bank and also the area where you have opened the bank account.
Let us check out the minimum balance requirement by some of the banks which will include SBI, HDFC, and ICICI bank.
State Bank of India
People who have their savings account opened in SBI and those whose account is either in the metro cities or the urban areas need to maintain a minimum balance of Rs.3000. You can log in to sbi.co.in to check this as well. People who have their savings account opened in rural or semi-urban areas need to keep Rs. 1000 and Rs. 2000 respectively.
HDFC bank
As per the bank’s website: hdfc.com people who have their savings account opened at any of the HDFC branches located in urban or in the metro areas need to keep a minimum balance of Rs. 10,000. However, in the semi-urban areas, a person with their savings account has to maintain a minimum balance of Rs.5000 per month. In the rural area, the rules are a bit different. You have two options, one is to maintain a quarterly balance of Rs. 2,500. The second one is to open a fixed deposit of Rs.10,000 and set up the maturity period for a minimum of 1 year and 1 day. For more details, you can visit the bank’s website.
ICICI Bank
People who have their savings account opened in any of the ICICI branches which is either is in the metro city or in the urban areas again need to maintain a minimum balance of Rs. 10,000. For those who have their account opened in the semi-urban and rural areas need to keep Rs.5000 and Rs.2000 simultaneously. Follow icicibank.com for more details.
The penalties if you fail to maintain the minimum balance
SBI Bank
If you don’t keep the said maintain balance, then you will be charged a penalty fee which can range in between Rs.5 to Rs.15 (GST separate). The penalty charges will differ from branch to branch and also it will depend on the location.
HDFC Bank
If you don’t keep a minimum balance in your HDFC bank account, then you will have to pay a fine which can anywhere between Rs. 150 to Rs.600.
ICICI Bank
With ICICI you will have to pay a penalty of Rs.100 and 5% of the shortfall of the amount in your monthly balance.
All these charges are applicable to everyone who fails to maintain a minimum balance in their savings account.
