Canara Bank removes minimum balance requirement for all savings accounts

New Delhi, June 1 (IANS) In a customer-friendly move, the Canara Bank on Sunday officially scrapped the penalty for not maintaining a minimum balance in savings accounts starting June 1.

With this decision, customers holding any type of savings account with Canara Bank will no longer be charged or penalised for failing to maintain a minimum balance. The new rule is applicable across all categories of savings accounts.

Canara Bank has become the first major public sector bank to eliminate the minimum balance requirement across the board.

This means account holders can now maintain a zero balance in their savings accounts without incurring any fees.

This move is expected to benefit millions of savings account holders, allowing them to utilise their entire account balance freely for transactions, without worrying about penalties.

"From June 1, 2025, Canara Bank will not impose any penalty for non-maintenance of minimum balance. This applies to all savings account holders,” the bank said in a statement on social media platform X.

“With this new policy, all Canara Bank savings bank account holders will now enjoy true ‘no penalty on minimum balance’ for all savings bank accounts free from any average monthly balance-related penalties or fees,” it said.

Previously, Canara Bank required customers to maintain a minimum balance of Rs 2,000 in urban areas, Rs 1,000 in semi-urban areas, and Rs 500 in rural areas. Failure to meet these thresholds would result in penalties.

This change is set to benefit a wide range of customers, including students, women, senior citizens, and individuals from low-income groups.

Canara Bank is one of India’s largest public sector banks. In the March quarter (Q4) of FY25, the bank reported an income of Rs 31,496 crore and a profit of Rs 5,111 crore.

For the full financial year, the bank’s total income stood at Rs 1.21 lakh crore in FY25, with a net profit of Rs 17,692 crore.

--IANS

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