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Savings Account Charges of Top Banks in India

Savings Account Charges of Top Banks in India

Last Updated : Aug. 13, 2020, 5:45 p.m.

A savings account is, without a doubt, one of the most popular banking products in our country. More than 80% of India’s population has at least one savings account in their names. Both public and private banks provide a savings account facility to customers with which they can save their hard-earned money. Banks also give interest on their money that may vary from one bank to another. For the Savings Account facility, banks ask different charges from the customers for a few facilities, and for some, there are no charges. These savings account charges tend to differ from one bank to another bank and is something that every individual should know who wants to open a Savings Bank Account .

A savings account provides several benefits and services to the customers. Some of the services are free, like Internet Banking, Mobile Banking, cheque book of Fixed leaves, Monthly email statement, etc, but for some services, banks will ask for specific savings account charges. In this article, we will cover everything about different savings account charges of various banks. This article will help you know all such charges on your savings account. Keep reading to know more!

What are the Different Savings Account Charges of Various Banks?

As we told, banks ask for savings account charges for the services they provide. So what are these services for which customers need to pay? Well, there are several services such as Issuance of Multi-city Cheque Book, Duplicate Passbook for single/joint account holders, Account closure charges, AMT Interchange transaction, Cash Transaction charges, Value-added SMS Alert Facility, Outstanding Cheque Collection, etc. Banks provide all these and many other services for which customers need to pay. The charges differ from one bank to another. Moreover, it is also possible that on the same service, one bank charges from customers while another bank does not. So, it depends solely on the bank.

We are showing some of these Savings Account charges of various banks. Please have a look.

Issuance of Multi-city Cheque Book Charges

On opening a savings bank account, customers get a Cheque Book with a fixed number of leaves free of cost. Cheques help customers in services like Bill payments, Money Transfer to someone else’s account, etc. Simply put, a cheque is an essential document that states your bank to pay a specific amount of money from your account to the person in whose name the cheque has been issued. After you have exhausted the free leaves in your cheque book, if you want more leaves, banks will charge a certain amount to issue Multi-city Cheque Book. It is one of the common savings account charges. We are showing charges by some of the top banks in India to issue a cheque book. Please have a look.

BankCheque Book Issuance Charges
State Bank of India (SBI)
  • First 10 Cheque Leaves in a Financial year comes free.
  • After that, 10 Leaf Cheque Book at INR 40 + GST
  • 25 Leaf Cheque Book at INR 75 + GST
Bank of Baroda
  • For Metro/Urban Area - Free 30 Leaves in a year, after that INR 4 per cheque leaf
  • For Rural/Semi-urban Area - INR 2.50 per cheque Leaf
ICICI Bank
  • First 20 Cheque Leaves in a Financial year.
  • After that, INR 20 for every extra 10-leaf Cheque Book
HDFC Bank
  • Free 25 cheque leaves in a Financial Year.
  • After that, INR 75 for every 25-leaf cheque book
Punjab National Bank
  • Free 20/25 cheque leaves in a Financial Year.
  • After that, INR 3 per leaf if a request is made Online
  • INR 4 per leaf, if a request is made physically

Charges for Non-Maintenance of Minimum Average Balance (MAB)

Banks ask customers to maintain an Average Balance in their Savings Account. For some banks, it can be an Average Monthly Balance (AMB), while a few other banks ask to keep a fixed Quarterly Monthly Balance (QMB) in their savings accounts. This minimum average balance tends to change from one bank to another. You also need to keep this in mind that some banks also provide a savings account where you don’t need to keep a minimum average balance (MAB) in your account, and they do not charge anything on non-maintenance.

We are showing the charges for Non-maintenance of MAB for some of the top banks in India. Check it out below.

BanksCharges for Non-Maintenance of MAB
State Bank of India (SBI)Nil for SBI Regular Savings Account
HDFC BankFor Metro and Urban Branches (AMB Requirement is INR 10,000)
  • INR 150 to INR 600

For Semi-urban Branches (AMB Requirement is INR 5,000)
  • INR 150 to INR 300
Punjab National BankFor Rural Branches - INR 50 to INR 100
For Semi-urban Branches - INR 100 to INR 150
For Urban/Metro Branches - INR 150 to INR 250
ICICI BankFor Metro/Urban/Semi-Urban/Rural locations
  • INR 100 + 5% of the Shortfall in the Required MAB

Gramin Locations
  • 5% of the Shortfall in the Required MAB
Bank of BarodaFor Rural Branches - INR 500
For Semi-urban Branches - INR 1,000
For Urban/Metro Branches - INR 2,000

Issuance of Duplicate Passbook

On opening a savings bank account at any bank, you will get a free passbook. A passbook helps you keep track of all the financial transactions made in your account. When we are talking about Savings Account charges, you should know about the charges for the issuance of Duplicate passbook in case you have misplaced or lost it for some reason. Same as other charges, this charge, too, tends to change from one bank to another. To know the Savings account charges related to the issuance of Duplicate passbook, you can check the below table. It consists of charges to get a duplicate passbook at some of the top banks in India.

BankCharges for Issuance of Duplicate Passbook
State Bank of India (SBI)INR 100 + GST
Additional INR 50 + GST (for 40 Entries, if required)
HDFC BankINR 100
Bank of BarodaFor Metro/Urban Branches - INR 100 per duplicate Passbook.
For Rural/Semi-urban Branches - INR 75 per Duplicate Passbook
(INR 75 for Previous Entries to all locations)
ICICI BankCustomized
Punjab National BankWith Latest Balance Only - INR 100
For Previous Entries - INR 2 per entry (Minimum of INR 100 and a maximum of INR 1,000)

Debit Card Fees

Banks provide Debit Cards to their customers on their Savings Bank account. This ATM-cum Debit card helps customers in getting a lot of benefits such as Cash Withdrawal, Money Transfer, Shopping, Bill Payments, etc. So among the various Savings account charges, the Debit card fee is among the important ones. Banks charge a certain fee on their debit cards provided to customers. However, that can vary from one bank to another. We are showing the Debit Card Fee of some of the top banks in India in the below table. Do check it out!

BankDebit Card Fees
State Bank of India (SBI)Issuance Fee - Nil to INR 300 + GST
Annual Fee - INR 125 + GST to INR 350 + GST
HDFC BankIssuance Fee - INR 150 to INR 750 (depending on the card type)
Annual/Renewal Fee - INR 150 to INR 750 (depending on the card type)
Replacement/Reissuance Charges - INR 200 + GST
ICICI BankFor First and Joint Account Holders - INR 150 per annum
For Rural Locations - INR 99 per annum
Punjab National BankCard Issuance Charges - Nil to INR 500
Annual Maintenance Charges - INR 150 (from the second year onwards)
Card Replacement Charges - INR 150
Bank of BarodaINR 250

Cash Transaction Charges

One of the most important features of a Savings Account is the Cash Transaction that includes both deposit and withdrawal of money. In a savings bank account, banks usually put a limit on how many times you deposit or withdraw the money for free. This limit differs from one bank to another. For example, customers having an SBI Savings account can only make five free ATM transactions in a month at SBI ATMs.

On doing any cash transactions above this limit, customers need to pay a charge. This is known as the Cash Transaction charges. Among all the Savings account charges, you should know this so that you are aware of the number of times you can make a free transaction.

We are showing Cash Transaction charges of a few top banks in India. Have a look to know it better.

BankCash Transaction Charges
State Bank of India (SBI)Charges for ATM Transactions beyond the Fixed Limit
  • INR 5 + GST to INR 20 + GST

Charges for Cash Withdrawals at branch beyond the set limit
  • INR 50 + GST for each transaction
HDFC BankAfter 4 Free Branch Transactions in a month - INR 150 per transaction
ATM Cash withdrawals beyond the set limit - INR 20 + GST per transaction
ICICI BankAfter 5 Free Transactions in a month - INR 20 per transaction
Bank of BarodaMetro- Urban Savings Bank Accounts
  • After 50 Free Debit Entries - INR 15 per Debit

Rural/Semi-urban branches, Senior Citizen and Pensioners at any branch Savings Bank Accounts
  • After 50 Free Debit Entries - INR 12 per Debit
Punjab National BankAt Bank’s own ATM in Metro and Non-metro Areas
  • After 5 Free Transactions per month - INR 10 per transaction

At Other Bank’s ATM Metro and Non-metro Areas
  • After 3 (Metro) and 5 (non-metro) Free Transaction per month - INR 20 per transaction

Account Closure Charges

Account closure charges are one of the significant charges related to Savings account charges. If you want to close your savings account for some reason, banks ask for a fixed charge from the customers. Savings account closure charges vary from one bank to another, and a customer should know about it in case he or she wants to close the account. There is one thing you need to know though, the account closure charges depend on the days since the opening of the account. For example, Bank of Baroda does not charge anything if a customer decides to close his or her Savings Bank Account within 14 days of the first credit into the account.

We are showing Account Closure charges of some of the top banks in India. Please check it out.

BankAccount Closure Charges
State Bank of India (SBI)After 14 days upto 1 year of opening of account - INR 500 + GST
After 1 year of Opening of Account - Nil
HDFC BankAfter 15 days upto 12 months of Account Opening - INR 500 (For Senior Citizens - INR 300)
After 12 months - Nil
Bank of BarodaFor Metro/Non-urban Locations
  • After 14 days upto 1 year of opening of account - INR 300

For Rural/Semi-urban Locations
  • After 14 days upto 1 year of opening of account - INR 275

There will be no charges if the account is closed due to death of the Account Holder
ICICI BankNA
Punjab National BankFor Accounts closed after 14 days but within 12 months - INR 300
Account closed after 12 months - Nil

SMS Alert Charges

Banks also provide customized SMS Alerts to their Savings Bank Account Holders. For this facility, banks ask for SMS Alert charges from the customers. With this facility, customers get all details about their savings account such as ATM withdrawals, Deposit, etc. Different banks ask different SMS Alert charges from the customers. We are showing charges of a few leading banks in India. Do check.

BankSMS Alert Charges (per quarter)
State Bank of India (SBI)INR 12 + GST
HDFC BankINR 15
Bank of BarodaINR 15
ICICI BankINR 15
Punjab National BankINR 15

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