New Delhi: Facing widespread outrage private lender ICICI Bank on Wednesday partially reversed its minimum average balance (MAB) requirements from Rs 50000 to Rs 15000 for new customers in Metro and urban areas. The revision came after a pushback from customers and days after the second-largest bank in the country raised the MAB requirement from Rs 10000 to Rs 50000 for new customers in urban cities. The minimum balance that new ICICI Bank customers in semi-urban areas must maintain has also been reduced to Rs 7500 from Rs 25000. For rural locations the MAB has been reduced to Rs 2500 from Rs 10000 as recommended earlier. However the bank has clarified that if customers keep a balance less than the prescribed limit in their account then they will have to pay a penalty. Earlier in the day HDFC Bank followed suit by elevating MAB to Rs 25000 effective from August 1 2025 for new savings account holders. As per the HDFC Bank updated terms account holders should maintain a Rs 25000 balance. For urban and metro bank branches the penalty is calculated as 6 per cent of the shortfall or Rs 600 whichever is lower. Major lenders like SBI PNB and Canara Bank have removed the minimum balance requirement for savings accounts while also removing penalty charges for non-maintenance. Meanwhile Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra has said that the minimum balance limit for savings accounts will be decided by banks as the decision does not fall under any regulatory jurisdiction after India’s second-largest lender ICICI Bank raised the monthly minimum average balance requirement for all customer segments. He further said that some banks have fixed this limit at Rs 10000 while some banks have kept this limit at Rs 2000 for customers. However there are many banks that have completely removed it for their customers. This decision does not fall under the regulatory domain he clarified. According to an earlier ICICI Banks decision customers at metro and urban locations who opened their savings accounts on or after August 1 had to maintain a Rs 50000 monthly average balance to avoid penalties. The minimum average balance for older customers remained Rs 10000.