ICICI Bank's minimum balance requirement increased. Penalty to be 6 per cent of...

ICICI Bank, India's second-largest private lender, has increased the minimum balance requirement for its savings accounts for customers in metro and urban areas. The minimum balance required has been raised from Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000. In semi-urban branches, the new requirement is Rs 25,000 from Rs 5000. For rural branches, the minimum balance has been increased to Rs 10000 from Rs 2500.

Those who fail to maintain the minimum balance will be forced to pay either 6 per cent of the shortfall of Rs 500 per month, whichever is lower. Those who maintain the balance will avoid these charges.

In the case of Family Banking, the family must collectively maintain 1.5 times the program's eligibility criteria; otherwise, non-maintenance charges will apply individually to members who do not meet their own MAB requirement. Pensioners are exempt from these charges.

Those who can't keep the balance for ECS/NACH auto debit over financial reasons will have to pay Rs 500 per instance. The bank has capped three charges per month for the same mandate.

ICICI has also announced a fee of Rs 200 per instance in case of the return of cheques deposited by the customer due to financial reasons.

In case of the return of cheques issued by the customer, a charge of Rs 500 will be imposed in case of financial reasons and Rs 50 for non-financial reasons.

If a transaction at another bank's ATM or a point of sale (POS) terminal is declined due to insufficient balance, a fee of Rs 25 per instance will be charged.