Punjab National Bank will no longer charge penalty for not mainTaining minimum balance in the account

Punjab national bank: Punjab National Bank (PNB) has given great relief to its account holders. The bank has announced that no penalty will be charged for not maintaining a minimum average balance in the savings account. This decision of the bank will provide relief to the people from the concern of keeping the minimum balance in the account.

The bank says that the aim of this step is to promote financial inclusion and make banking more accessible for all. This new rule of the bank has come into force from July 1, 2025. This will help women, farmers and lower income families especially. Last month, Canara Bank also removed the need to maintain average monthly balance (Amb) on all its accounts from the month of June.

Why do banks impose minimum balance rule?

The bank is therefore asks to maintain the minimum average balance in its account so that its operational expenses can be met and customers can spend various services such as online banking, ATM, branch, etc. Many times the bank also provides facilities like more interest rate, free ATM transaction to customers on maintaining minimum balance.

At the same time, the bank charge a fine from its customers for not maintaining minimum balance. Many times, if the minimum average balance is not maintained in the account for a long time, the bank account is closed. Broadly understanding, the bank is a business, which depends on deposits and penalty to meet their expenses.

According to the RBI rules regarding minimum balance, the bank always keep in mind that the balance does not go to negative due to penalty in the account if there is no minimum balance maintained in the account.

Banks also earn from these things

However, many times banks remove this rule so that people from far-flung rural areas and low income are easy to use banking services without any fine. With this, the cost of the bank’s operational cost comes out of many other things such as SMS alert fees, service fees, transaction fees, interest, etc.

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