ICICI Bank raises minimum balance for savings accounts from ₹10,000 to 50,000

In a major move on Saturday, ICICI Bank increased the minimum average balance requirement for its savings account across all branches.

The new rule is set to come into effect from August 1, 2025.

For the customers in metro and urban areas, the minimum average has been raised from the earlier ₹10,000 to now ₹50,000.

While in semi-urban areas, the new requirement is ₹25,000, compared to ₹5,000 previously, sources reported.

For rural branches, the amount has been increased from ₹2,500 to ₹10,000.

This major hike is expected to impact a large amount of customers, especially from rural and semi-urban areas. Customers who are not able to maintain the required amount of balance may face penalty charges, which could cause a financial strain for the low-income account holders.

This move can lead consumers to reconsider their banking choices, with some potentially shifting to a bank with lower minimum balance requirements, or they can choose to opt for a basic savings account that does not mandate such thresholds.

As per ICICI bank, customers who fail to maintain the required minimum monthly average balance will be charged a penalty of 6 per cent of the shortfall or ₹500, whichever is lower.

However, the bank also said that these charges will be waived if the customer meets the enrolled program criteria.

In the Family Banking program, the family as a whole must maintain 1.5 times the required eligibility criteria.

If this collective balance is not maintained, non-maintenance charges will be applied individually to members who fail to meet their own Monthly Average Balance (MAB) requirement. Pensioners are exempt from these charges, reported news agency ANI.

For ECS/NACH debit returns due to insufficient funds or other financial reasons, the bank will levy a charge of ₹500 per instance, limited to a maximum of three charges per month for the same mandate.

For outward cheque returns (cheques deposited by the customer), a fee of ₹200 per instance will be charged if the cheque is returned due to financial reasons.

In the case of inward cheque returns (cheques issued by the customer), the bank will levy ₹500 per instance for financial reasons and ₹50 per instance for non-financial reasons, excluding cases related to signature verification.