ICICI Bank, India’s second-largest private lender, has increased the monthly minimum average balance requirement for new savings account holders, effective August 1, 2025.
Under the new rules, customers in metro and urban areas who open accounts on or after August 1 must maintain a ₹50,000 monthly average balance to avoid penalties. Existing metro customers will continue with the earlier requirement of ₹10,000.
For semi-urban branches, new customers must maintain ₹25,000, while rural customers have a ₹10,000 minimum. For older accounts in semi-urban and rural locations, the requirement stays at ₹5,000.
Customers failing to meet the minimum will face a penalty of 6% of the shortfall or ₹500, whichever is lower.
Other changes include:
- Three free cash deposits per month; after that, ₹150 per deposit applies.
- A ₹1 lakh monthly cap on total cash deposits.
- Three free withdrawals per month remain unchanged.
- Third-party cash deposits capped at ₹25,000 per transaction.
In April 2025, ICICI Bank reduced its savings account interest rate by 0.25%, with balances up to ₹50 lakh now earning 2.75% interest.
The hike contrasts with other major banks—SBI scrapped its minimum balance rule in 2020, and most other banks maintain thresholds between ₹2,000 and ₹10,000.https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2y_OJdWHpqA
