India’s second largest lender ICICI Bank has raised the monthly minimum average balance requirement for all customer segments, effective August 1.

Customers at metro and urban locations who opened their savings accounts on or after August 1 have to maintain Rs 50,000 monthly average balance to avoid penalties, according to the latest notification on the bank’s website.

The minimum average balance for older customers remains Rs 10,000.

New customers in semi-urban locations will be required to maintain a minimum average balance of Rs 25,000 and rural customers will have to maintain Rs 10,000.

The minimum average balance remains at Rs 5,000 a month for old customers in rural and semi urban areas.

Customers who do not maintain the minimum average balance will be levied a penalty at 6 per cent of the shortfall or Rs 500, whichever is lower.

The bank now allows three complementary cash deposits free of cost into your savings account, after which you have to pay Rs 150 per transaction.

The cumulative value limit is Rs 1 lakh per month. In April 2025, ICICI Bank reduced the interest rate on its savings accounts by 0.25 per cent, and savings bank accounts with deposits up to Rs 50 lakh will now earn 2.75 per cent interest.

The number of complementary cash withdrawal transactions per month also remains three.

The third-party cash deposit of Rs 25,000 per transaction is applicable for all savings accounts.

The hike in minimum average balance by a large private lender is in contrast to other banks that have rationalised their penalties.

The country’s largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI), had scrapped the minimum balance rule in 2020.

The majority of other banks maintain significantly lower thresholds, typically between Rs 2,000 and Rs 10,000.

(With inputs from IANS)