SBI vs HDFC vs ICICI Bank: Penalty for not maintaining minimum monthly average balance compared

Penalty for not maintaining a minimum monthly average balance: Managing a bank account comes at a cost. This is why all banks expect their customers to maintain a Monthly Average Balance or MAB and failing to do so, penalise them. The Monthly Average Balance is the sum of all the EOD closing balance divided by the number of days in that month. The value varies for each bank, also the penalty varies according to various factors such as the location of a branch of a customer's account in urban, metro, semi-urban and rural areas. Here is how much monthly average balance customers of State Bank Of India, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank are expected to maintain in their savings account.  Failing to maintain this amount can lead to penalties from these banks.  

Here are the penalty charges levied for non-maintenance of balance by SBI, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank: 

State Bank of India (SBI) SBI: 

If you are a savings account holder then the minimum balance limit is Rs 3,000 in Metro Centre branches and for Urban Centre branches it is Rs 3000. For Semi-Urban Centre branches it is Rs 2000 and for Rural Centre branches the minimum amount is Rs 1000. Customers failing to meet these requirements have to pay the following charges:

Metro and urban branch (required AMB Rs. 3,000)    Charges
Shortfall <= 50%    Rs. 10 + GST
Shortfall > 50-75%    Rs. 12 + GST
Shortfall > 75%    Rs. 15 + GST
Semi-urban branch (required AMB Rs. 2,000)    
Shortfall <= 50%    Rs. 7.50 + GST
Shortfall > 50-75%    Rs. 10 + GST
Shortfall > 75%    Rs.12 + GST
Rural (required AMB Rs. 1,000)    
Shortfall <= 50%    Rs. 5 + GST
Shortfall > 50-75%    Rs. 7.50 + GST
Shortfall > 75%    Rs. 10 + GST
(As mentioned on SBI's official website)

HDFC Bank Minimum Balance Rules

HDFC Bank: If you are a savings bank account holder then the minimum balance limit in Metro/Urban branches is Rs10,000. In semi-urban branches, it is Rs.5,000/- and, in rural branches, it is Rs 2,500 or set up a fixed deposit of Rs. 10,000 for a maturity period of a minimum one year, one day. Customers failing to meet these requirements have to pay the following charges:

Minimum Average Balance Requirements Metro and urban branches: 
Shortfall >=7,500 to < 10,000 then the account holder is charged Rs. 150 in Metro & Urban

Shortfall >=5,000 to < 7,500 then the account holder is charged  Rs. 300 in Metro & Urban

Shortfall >=2,500 to < 5,000 then the account holder is charged  Rs. 450 in Metro & Urban and Rs. 150 is charged to Semi Urban account holders.

Shortfall 0 to < 2,500 then the account holder is charged Rs. 600 in Metro & Urban and Rs. 300 is charged to Semi Urban account holders. Also the taxes as applicable.

Balance non-maintenance charges (per quarter) - rural branches
Shortfall >= 1000 < 2,500 pananlty charged is Rs. 270
Shortfall 0 - <1000 pananlty charged is Rs. 450

ICICI Bank Minimum Balance Rules

ICICI Bank: If you are a Saving Bank account holder in ICICI Bank then the minimum balance limit in Metro or Urban branches is Rs.10,000 and in Semi Urban branches it is Rs.5,000; in rural branches is  Rs.2,000 and Gramin locations is Rs. 1,000 respectively. Customers failing to meet these requirements have to pay the following charges:

Charges for non-maintenance of minimum monthly average balance:

In Metro/urban/semi-urban/rural locations penalties for a shortfall in required MAB is Rs. 100 + 5% and in Gramin locations 5% of the shortfall in required MAB.