ICICI Bank Cuts Minimum Balance Requirement After Public Outcry

After facing strong criticism from customers, ICICI Bank has decided to reduce its recently increased minimum average balance (MAB) requirement.

For new customers in metro and urban areas, the MAB has been brought down from ₹50,000 to ₹15,000. In semi-urban branches, it is now ₹7,500 instead of ₹25,000, and in rural branches, it’s ₹2,500 instead of ₹10,000.

The bank clarified that customers who fail to maintain the required balance will still have to pay penalties.

The rollback comes just weeks after ICICI Bank — India’s second-largest private lender — raised the MAB for new urban customers from ₹10,000 to ₹50,000, sparking widespread backlash.

On the same day, HDFC Bank also announced changes for new savings account holders, increasing the MAB to ₹25,000 from August 1, 2025. In metro and urban branches, the penalty for falling short will be 6% of the shortfall or ₹600, whichever is lower.

Meanwhile, public sector banks like SBI, PNB, and Canara Bank have removed the minimum balance requirement for savings accounts altogether and do not charge any penalties.

RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra explained that banks set their own minimum balance rules and that the central bank does not regulate them. Some banks keep it as low as ₹2,000 or ₹10,000, while others have no such requirement at all.

Initially, ICICI Bank’s rule applied to all new savings accounts opened from August 1, with existing customers continuing under the old ₹10,000 limit.

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