SBI waives minimum balance requirement for Savings Bank Accounts

Mumbai, March 11, 2020

State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest lender, today said it had decided to waive the requirement of maintenance of Average Monthly Balance (AMB) for all Savings Bank Accounts.

A press release from the bank said this was an initiative to bring "customer delight and a hassle free banking experience" for customers.

"This initiative will further boost the efforts to promote financial inclusion in the country," it said.

According to the release, the charges on maintaining AMB are now waived on all 44.51 crore SBI savings bank accounts. Currently SBI Savings Bank customers’ needs to maintain AMB of Rs 3000, Rs 2000 and Rs 1000 in Metro, Semi Urban and Rural areas respectively. The bank used to levy a penalty of Rs 5 to Rs 15 + taxes on non-maintenance of AMB.

The bank has also waived SMS charges. It has also rationalised interest rate on SB Account to a flat 3 % p.a. for all buckets.

Announcing the waiver, Rajnish Kumar, Chairman, SBI said “This announcement will bring in more smiles and delight to our valuable customers. Waiving AMB is SBI’s yet another initiative to provide customers a more convenience and elated banking experience. We believe this initiative would empower our customers towards banking with SBI and boost their confidence in SBI.”

NNN