SBI says no minimum balance penalty, SMS charges on all savings accounts

India's largest bank State Bank of India or SBI said that it is not charging savings bank account customers for non-maintenance of minimum balance and it has also waived SMS charges. "Good news for SBI Savings Account holders! Now you don't have to pay charges for SMS service and non-maintenance of monthly average balance," the State Bank of India or SBI tweeted today. SBI has over 44 crore savings accounts.

Is this facility for all SBI savings accounts that have internet banking and cheque book facilities? In reply to this question, SBI in a tweet said the waiver of charges is all applicable for all accounts.

However, SBI offers higher number of free ATM transactions to those who maintain a higher balance in their savings accounts. For example, account holders who maintain balance of over ₹1 lakh get the benefit of unlimited number of free ATM transactions in a month.

In March this year, SBI had announced that it will waive charges for non-maintenance of average monthly balance (AMB) for all savings bank accounts. Earlier, SBI savings bank customers had to maintain average monthly balance of ₹3000, ₹2000 and ₹1000 in metro, semi urban and rural areas respectively. The bank used to levy a penalty of ₹5 to ₹15 plus taxes on non-maintenance of average monthly balance.

SBI currently pays an interest rate of 2.7% on savings bank account deposits.

SBI is the largest commercial bank in terms of assets, deposits, branches, customers, and employees. It also claims to be the largest mortgage lender in the country.

As on March 31, 2020, the bank has a deposit base of over Rs. 32 lakh crore. The bank has the largest network of over 22,000 branches in India with an ATM / CDM network of over 58,000 and total BC outlets of more than 61,000.