The State Bank of India traces back its origin to the first decade of nineteenth century with the formation of the Bank of Calcutta in June 1806. At present, SBI is India’s leading multinational, public sector banking and financial services statutory body. Its vision is to “Be the Bank of Choice For a Transforming India”.
State Bank of India is also involved in non-profit activity known as Community Service Banking. Under this initiative, all the branches of the bank participate in huge number of social activities and welfare causes. Continuing in this stride, the SBI has recently waived off the need to hold average monthly balance for all its savings account holders.
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No Need for Minimum Balance in State Bank of India
On March 11, 2020, the SBI took a momentous decision by waiving off the requirement for monthly average balance in the savings account. According to the bank’s press release “State Bank of India has decided to waive maintenance of Average Monthly Balance (AMB) for all Savings Bank Account.”
Zero Balance Facility in Savings Bank Accounts
At present, all customers of SBI enjoy the facility of zero balance in their savings bank account. This means that customers are not required to maintain any amount of minimum monthly balance in their savings bank account. Hence, a customer can open SBI account with zero balance. This move is expected to benefit 44.51 crore SBI account holders.
Earlier Monthly Average Balance Requirement in SBI and the Associated Penalty Charges
Earlier, the SBI customers were required to maintain an average monthly balance of INR 1000 in rural region, INR 2000 in semi-urban region, and INR 3000 in metro region. In case, the account holder failed to maintain this AMB, then they were penalized an amount ranging from INR 5 to INR 15+ taxes. This caused problem to people who were unable to maintain the AMB due to inadequate money in their accounts. Now people from disadvantage section of the society can also have a savings account in SBI and not worry about keeping a minimum balance. SBI has also waived off charges on SMS alert which it earlier levied every three months on its customers. Thus, it seems that SBI is truly moving forward in an effort to empower its customers.
I’m Shiv Kumar, a graduate with a passion for finance, marketing, and technology. My journey into finance started with a desire to understand money management and investing.
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