Mumbai: State Bank of India (SBI) is in the process of comprehensively reviewing the requirement for minimum balance in savings account and the charges applicable for non-maintenance, and will soon make the announcement, said managing director Praveen Kumar Gupta.
“That is something we have been looking at continuously. As I said, we brought it back in April and we reviewed in October, now also we are in the process of reviewing it,” Gupta said at the sidelines of an event on Friday.
When asked if reduction of monthly average balance (MAB) is on the cards, Gupta said SBI has got some feedback on the same and the bank will take a view on the same in the review.
In April 2017, SBI had re-introduced the requirement for maintenance monthly average balance and penalties for non-maintenance after six years. The MAB for accounts from metro areas was set at Rs5,000 and those from urban areas at Rs3,000.
The bank collected Rs1,771.67 crore from customers on account of non-maintenance of minimum average balance between April and November 2017, according to finance ministry’s answer in Lok Sabha on 29 December.
SBI has around 420 million savings bank accounts, of which around 130 million are expected from MAB requirement. Exempted accounts are those related to Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, basic savings bank deposit account, and pensioners and minor accounts, among others.
The bank subsequently lowered the MAB following criticism from the customers. Effective October, MAB for accounts in metro and urban MAB was revised to Rs3,000. It also slashed charges from 20-50% for non-maintenance of MAB across all population groups and categories. Accordingly, charges for semi-urban and rural centres were in the range of Rs20-40 and for urban and metro centres Rs30-50.