MUMBAI: State Bank of India ( SBI ) is taking a relook at its Rs 5,000 minimum balance requirement following criticism over new charges for customers with a lower balance.

The bank came under attack in the media after accounts opened for students and the underprivileged were subjected to penalties for holding a balance lower than specified. Speaking to TOI, SBI MD Rajnish Kumar said the norms were not “cast in iron“, and were being debated within the bank.

Of the over 40 crore savings accounts opened by SBI, more than 13 crore were under the PM's Jan Dhan Yojana. These accounts were basic savings bank deposit (BSDA) accounts every bank is expected to offer to the underprivileged.

BSDA have most of the features of a regular savings account, including debit cards, but do not offer the cheque book facility. Kumar said there had been several instances of students and underprivileged opening regular accounts with the SBI instead of the BSDA.

“We are advising school authorities that accounts for students should be under BSDA. We are also actively advising people to convert their regular accounts to BSDA accounts for which there are no charges on not maintaining minimum quarterly balance of Rs 5,000,“ he said.

Around six crore of SBI's savings bank accounts were found to be short of the minimum balance requirement in the last quarter. “It is difficult for us to identify which of these accounts belong to the underprivileged,“ said Kumar. He however ruled out any rollback of the charges for non-maintenance of balances.

