ICICI Bank- Big relief for ICICI Bank account holders. Private sector ICICI Bank on Wednesday announced a major change in its minimum balance rules. The bank has abolished the condition of ₹ 50,000 minimum balance for customers opening new accounts in metro and urban areas. Now the minimum balance for these customers has been fixed at Rs 15,000.
Similarly, the minimum balance for new customers in semi-urban and rural areas has been fixed at Rs 7,500 and Rs 2,500 respectively. This change has been made after the reactions received from customers and the industry last week, when the bank proposed to increase the minimum average monthly balance from ₹10,000 to ₹50,000. Many customers had expressed their displeasure on social media.
This account is out of the minimum balance rule
The bank has clarified that this change will not apply to salary accounts, senior citizens and pensioners, basic savings bank deposit accounts, Jan Dhan accounts and special needs accounts. Apart from this, pensioners below 60 years of age and students of 1,200 selected institutions will be exempted from the minimum balance condition.
Penalty will be imposed for not maintaining minimum balance
As per the new rules, accounts that do not meet the minimum balance will be charged a penalty of 6% of the shortfall or Rs 500 (whichever is lower). The bank said these changes have been made to ‘better reflect customer expectations and preferences’.
Minimum balance was increased from 10000 to 50000
Earlier, the minimum average monthly balance (MAMB) for a savings account was Rs 10,000. Recently, the bank had increased it to Rs 50,000 for urban customers. For semi-urban branches, the minimum was increased from Rs 5,000 to Rs 25,000. For rural branches, the minimum was increased from Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000. But now, a major reduction has been made in all three of these.