ICICI Bank revises minimum balance requirements: What are the new rules?

ICICI camber lower limit equilibrise (MAB) requirements feature been revised after an before steep hike of ₹50,000, following “valuable feedback” from the customers, the bank said on Wednesday.ICICI Bank had raised the minimum account balance requirement for its new savings bank accounts for metro and urban locations opened on or after August 1 five times to ₹50,000.MAB is the minimum balance that a customer is required to maintain in a bank account. If the balance falls below the required amount, the bank levies a penalty.Revised ICICI Bank minimum account balance-For metro and urban locations: ICICI Bank has slashed the minimum monthly average balance (MAB) requirement to ₹15,000 from ₹50,000.-For semi urban and rural locations: The MAB for semi-urban and rural locations have been revised downwards to ₹7,500 and ₹2,500 respectively. Before August 1, the MAB for semi-urban and rural was ₹5,000. Even after the rollback, the bank has effected a 50 per cent hike across all these segments."Following valuable feedback from our customers, we have revised these requirements to better reflect their expectations and preferences. We thank our customers for their continued trust and feedback, which help us serve them better," ICICI Bank posted on its website.The bank, however, the revised MAB requirements are not applicable to salary accounts, senior citizens/pensioners (above 60 years), basic savings bank deposit account/PM Jandhan Yojana, and accounts for people with special needs.The minimum balance requirements are also not applicable to savings accounts opened before July 31, 2025.Why did ICICI revise MAB requirementsThe move to raise minimum balance requirement to ₹50,000 had sparked outrage, with people saying that the urban youth would want to invest this money and “not to sit dead” in bank accounts. In case account holders fail to meet the minimum account balance requirements, they will be liable to pay penal charges of six per cent of the shortfall in required MAB, or ₹500, whichever is lower.The balance in the savings bank account of ICICI Bank earns an interest of 2.5 per cent per annum, it said.Led by the country's largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), other public sector lenders like Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, and Indian Bank, too, waived off penal charges for failing to maintain the MAB in all savings accounts.The hike in MAB comes at amid public sector banks rationalising their penalties or completely waived them off.Most public sector banks (PSBs) have removed their minimum balance charges in general savings bank accounts, while some have rationalised to promote financial inclusion, minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in the Lok Sabha on Monday.