MEHSANA (GUJARAT): Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra on Monday clarified that the central bank does not prescribe minimum balance requirements for savings accounts, leaving it to individual banks to decide.
“Some banks have fixed the minimum balance as high as Rs10,000, others as low as Rs2,000, while some have waived it altogether,” Malhotra told reporters at a financial inclusion event in Mehsana district.
His remarks follow private lender ICICI Bank’s recent move to sharply raise the minimum average monthly balance for new savings accounts from August 1.
The threshold now stands at Rs50,000 for urban branches, Rs25,000 for semi-urban, and Rs10,000 for rural locations, according to the bank’s website.
Public sector lenders typically maintain lower minimum balance requirements, with some, such as State Bank of India (SBI), scrapping them entirely. Jan Dhan accounts, designed to promote financial inclusion, carry no such mandate.
Emphasising the need for digital literacy as a driver of economic growth, Malhotra urged citizens to take advantage of welfare schemes such as accident and life insurance and the Atal Pension Yojana.
During the programme in Gozaria village, pension and insurance certificates were distributed to beneficiaries.
