From April 1, the State Bank of India will reduce its penalties for not maintaining a minimum balance by up to Rs 35 per month for metro centres and up to Rs 30 per month for rural branches. This is expected to benefit 25 crore customers, ANI reported.
India’s largest lender had started charging depositors the penalty on April 1, 2017. It requires savings accounts to maintain a minimum average monthly balance of Rs 3,000 in metropolitan areas, Rs 2,000 in semi-urban areas and Rs 1,000 in rural areas.
Here are the revised charges, exclusive of Goods and Services Tax:
- In metropolitan areas, a shortfall of 50% or less in the average balance for a month will be penalised Rs 10 instead of Rs 30. A shortfall of 50% to 75% will now be charged Rs 12 instead of Rs 40. An even higher deficit, which is penalised Rs 50 now, will get a penalty of Rs 15 from April 1.
- In semi-urban areas, the three penalties will be Rs 7.50 instead of Rs 20, Rs 10 instead of Rs 30 and Rs 12 instead of Rs 40.
- In rural areas, the revised charges from April 1 will be Rs 10, Rs 12 and Rs 15, instead of Rs 30, Rs 40 and Rs 50.
“We have reduced these charges taking into account the feedback and sentiments of our customers,” said PK Gupta, SBI’s managing director of retail and digital banking. He added that depositors had the option to convert their regular savings accounts to basic savings deposit accounts, which do not fine holders if they do not maintain a minimum balance every month.
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