BANK MINIMUM BALANCE REQUIREMENTS

ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank minimum monthly balance rules: Customers having an account in rural areas need to maintain Rs 2,000 for both banks.

Updated : February 10, 2019 

AMB is the minimum average of deposits required by customers in their regular savings bank accounts.

Regular savings bank accounts require customers to maintain a certain average monthly balance or AMB. AMB is the minimum average of deposits required by the bank customers in their regular savings bank accounts. Public and private sector lenders such as State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank(PNB), HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank have fixed their average monthly balance requirements. This depends on the location of a customer's account in urban, metro, semi-urban and rural areas. Banks also charge a penalty from their customers who fail to maintain an average monthly balance in their savings account.

Here's a comparison of the average monthly balance in SBI, Punjab National Bank (PNB), ICICI Bank and HDFC 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 of Rs. 3,000, said the country's largest bank in its website - sbi.co.in. Customers with SBI savings 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)

Punjab National Bank

Customers having a regular savings bank account in Punjab National Bank branches located in metro, urban, semi-urban areas are required to maintain a minimum quarterly average balance of Rs. 2,000, said the state-run bank on its official website - pnbindia.in. Customers with savings accounts in rural branches are required to maintain a minimum balance Rs. 1,000.

Branch Type Minimum Quarterly Average Balance

Rural Rs 1,000

Semi- Urban Rs. 2,000

Urban Rs. 2,000

Metropolitan Rs. 2,000

(Source: pnbindia.in)

ICICI Bank 

Customers having a regular savings account in ICICI Bank branches located in metro and urban areas need to maintain an average monthly balance of Rs. 10,000, said the bank on its official website - icicibank.com. The average monthly balance required in semi-urban, rural and gramin locations is 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)

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 of Rs. 10,000, said the private sector bank on its official 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 (AQB) 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)

However, there are certain accounts where AMB rules are not applicable. These accounts are called as zero balance savings accounts.