During his first visit to Gujarat, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra clarified that the central bank does not regulate minimum monthly average balance requirements, following ICICI Bank’s move to raise MAB to ₹50,000 for new customers in certain areas.
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SHASHANK PARADE/PTI
Days after ICICI Bank raised the minimum monthly average balance (MAB) for new savings bank customers to ₹50,000, Sanjay Malhotra, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India — during his maiden visit to Gujarat on Monday — said that the issue is “not part of its regulatory domain”.
“RBI has permitted all banks to keep their own minimum balance. Some banks have kept it at ₹10000, while some have done away with it. This is not part of the regulatory domain,” Malhotra told mediapersons during his visit to Gozaria village in Mehsana district of Gujarat. The RBI Governor had graced an event organised by the State Level Bankers” Committee (SLBC) of Gujarat.
The issue arose after ICICI Bank increased the minimum amount for new depositors in metro, urban, and semi-urban locations by five times to ₹50,000 (from ₹10,000) and ₹25,000 (from ₹5,000), respectively.
Re-KYC for PMJDY
Earlier, while addressing the villagers at Gozaria, the RBI Governor stated that the RBI has recently initiated re-KYC for Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts to prevent potential fraudulent activities. “We had begun Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana in 2014. We had opened 55 crore accounts. A re-KYC needs to be done after passage of a minimum of 10 years so that the banks have the latest customer identification. This is to prevent the accounts being used for fraudulent activities. This is to secure others and the help of account holders is needed in this,” Malhotra said, adding that the banks will be conducting re-KYC for 10 crore PMJDY accounts this year.
Banking Correspondents
The RBI Governor, during his speech, also called upon banks to strengthen the Banking Correspondents (BC) network across the country. “An estimated 17 lakh BCs have been deployed by various banks across the country. Those BCs who are working hard since the last 10-11 years, and are giving good services, they are earning similar to a regular (bank) staff member,” Malhotra said, adding that in the digital era, a BC armed with a laptop acts as a mobile bank and cost-effectively provides services.
Asking the rural folk to adopt digital banking, the RBI Governor said, “Without digital literacy, your education is incomplete.”
Published on August 11, 2025
