SBI Tweaks Guidelines For Basic Savings Deposits

State Bank of India (SBI) has fine-tuned its own basic savings bank deposit (BSBD) policy, acting on cue from a recent RBI circular on the same.

The RBI had, on June 10, said that commercial banks need to offer holders of BSBD accounts a minimum of four withdrawals in a month, including automatic teller machine (ATM) withdrawals.

The BSBD account aims to drive financial inclusion among the economically weaker sections, and is packaged as a savings account that offers certain minimum facilities free of charge to the holders.

The RBI circular on BSBD accounts seems to have prompted SBI to review its own guidelines governing these accounts, and further finetune them.

All branches and offices of SBI have been issued instructions in this connection, which came into effect on July 1. They are applicable uniformly to all BC outlets, irrespective of their locations. The most significant condition to satisfy before opening a BSBD account is that the customer would need to declare that he/she does not have a BSBD account with any other bank.

There is no change to the existing guidelines with respect to waiver of any minimum balance with the account offer of ATM card or ATM-cum-debit card.

There is no change either to the guideline that determines the bouquet of services available, which include deposit and withdrawal of cash at bank branch as well as ATMs, receipt/credit of money through electronic payment channels, or by means of deposit/collection of cheques drawn by Central/State Government agencies and departments.

As for the guideline that says there will be no limit on the number of deposits that can be made in a month, SBI has clarified that there is no limit on either the number or value of deposits that can be made in a month.