SBI waived the charges of non-maintaining minimum balance in SB accounts
Mumbai: The country’s largest bank State Bank of India reduced interest rate on savings bank account to 3% on Wednesday. It also waived minimum balance requirement for such accounts.
The bank also cut lending rates across all tenors. SBI has 44.50 crores SB accounts. More banks are likely to follow the market leader in slashing interest rates on SB accounts and waiving minimum balance requirements. Currently, the interest rate on SB accounts is 3.25% for deposits upto Rs. 1 lakh in SB accounts and 3% for deposits above Rs. 1 lakhs. The bank in a press note said that it has decided to do away with requirement of maintaining average monthly balance for all SB accounts besides also waiving off SMS charges that are levied quarterly.
SBI’s SB customers needed to maintain AMB of Rs. 3, 000, Rs. 2, 000 and Rs. 1,000 in Metro, Semi-urban and Rural areas respectively, said Rajnish Kumar, Chairman of the Bank. The bank used to levy a penalty of Rs. 5 to 15+ taxes on non maintenance of AMB.