The MAB requirements depend on location of a customer's account.

Most commercial banks in the country have fixed their monthly average balance (MAB) requirements. MAB is an average of the end-of-day (EoD) closing balances in a month. The MAB requirements depend on the location of a customer's account in urban, metro, semi-urban and rural areas. Banks such as State Bank of India (SBI), HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank charge a penalty from the customers failing to maintain the required monthly average balance in their savings accounts. The amount of penalty in case of non-compliance varies in different branch locations, based on factors such as the degree of shortfall.

Given below is a comparison of the monthly average requirements in SBI, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank:

State Bank of India (SBI)

Customers having a regular savings bank account in SBI branches located in metro and urban areas are required to maintain a monthly average balance or MAB of Rs 3,000, according to the bank's website, sbi.co.in. Customers with SBI accounts in semi-urban and rural branches are required to maintain a minimum average balance of Rs 2,000 and Rs 1,000, respectively.

Branch type Average monthly balance Metro Rs. 3,000 Urban Rs. 3,000 Semi-urban Rs. 2,000 Rural Rs. 1,000 (Source: sbi.co.in)

HDFC Bank

Customers having a regular savings account in HDFC Bank branches located in metro and urban areas are required to maintain an average monthly balance or MAB of Rs 10,000, according to the bank's website - hdfcbank.com. In semi-urban branches, the regular savings account holders are required to maintain an average balance of Rs 5,000 every month. In rural branches, the customers are required to either maintain an average quarterly balance of Rs 2,500 or set up a fixed deposit of Rs 10,000 for a maturity period of a minimum one year and one day

Branch type Average monthly balance Metro Rs. 10,000 Urban Rs. 10,000 Semi-urban Rs. 5,000 Rural Rs. 2,500 (Source: hdfcbank.com)

ICICI Bank

Customers having a regular savings account in ICICI Bank branches located in metro and urban areas need to maintain a MAB of Rs 10,000, according to the bank's website - icicibank.com. The MAB required in semi-urban, rural and gramin locations are Rs. 5,000, Rs. 2,000 and Rs. 1,000 respectively.

Branch type Average monthly balance Metro Rs. 10,000 Urban Rs. 10,000 Semi-urban Rs. 5,000 Rural Rs. 2,000 Gramin Rs.1,000 (Source: icicibank.com)

These banks also offer certain savings account which do not require customers to maintain any particular minimum balance.These are known as zero balance savings accounts.