ICICI Bank rolls back decision on minimum account balance, slashes it to Rs 15k from Rs 50k

MUMBAI: In a major relief to its customers, ICICI Bank on Thursday announced a rollback of its recent decision to hike the minimum average monthly balance (MAB) for certain savings accounts to Rs 50,000. The private sector lender has now reduced the MAB requirement to Rs 15,000.

The bank had, in July, revised the minimum average balance requirement for select account categories from Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000. The revision, which was scheduled to come into effect from September 1, has now been substantially moderated for all categories.

The bank has revised the MAB for Metro and Urban cities from earlier announced Rs 50,000 to Rs 15,000. For Semi-Urban cities it will now be Rs 7,500 instead of earlier announced Rs 25,000 and for rural areas it will be Rs 2,500 instead of Rs 10,000. For pensioners (below 60 years) and student affiliated with about 1200 select institutes MAB will be Nil.

The bank will charge 6 per cent of the shortfall or Rs 500 whichever is lower, if MAB is not met. The bank will charge Rs 23 per financial transaction/cash withdrawals from ATMs post 5 transactions, however all nonfinancial transactions will remain free. If a transaction is denied at other banks ATM for insufficient balance Rs 25 will be charged for every such transaction. Penal charges for not-honouring of cheques deposited by consumers will be between Rs 50 to Rs 500.

ICICI Bank has urged customers to check account category details through its website, mobile app or by visiting the nearest branch to understand the revised terms. ICICI bank is India’s second-largest private sector lender by assets and serves over 35 million savings account customers across the country. (ANI)