Bhubaneswar: ICICI Bank has sharply increased the monthly minimum average balance (MAB) requirement for new savings account holders across customer segments, with the steepest rise for those in metro and urban areas.

According to the bank’s latest notification, customers opening savings accounts at metro and urban branches on or after August 1 must maintain an MAB of ₹50,000 to avoid penalties. This is a fivefold jump from the earlier ₹10,000 requirement for urban customers.

For semi-urban branches, the MAB for new customers has been set at ₹25,000, while rural customers will need to maintain ₹10,000. The MAB for existing customers remains unchanged: ₹10,000 for urban accounts and ₹5,000 for rural and semi-urban accounts.

Customers who fail to maintain the required MAB will be charged a penalty of 6% of the shortfall or ₹500, whichever is lower.

The decision comes at a time when several banks, including the State Bank of India, have moved towards easing MAB rules. SBI scrapped the requirement entirely in 2020, while most other lenders keep their minimum balance thresholds between ₹2,000 and ₹10,000.