Where a metro tag weighs on SB a/c holders

It generally pays to be the resident of a metro. There are better educational and health amenities, more lifestyle options, better transport facilities (although often undone by heavier traffic) and more connectivity. So, a Tier-I city or an urban centre that is conferred a ‘metro’ status may normally have much to look forward to. However, occasionally it can give rise to considerable amount of misgivings too.

A recent move by State Bank of India is a case in point.

The bank had apparently included the city of Coimbatore as a metro in an internal circular and this was not exactly something that elated the denizens of this expanding town.

In fact, there was considerable consternation among the bank’s loyal clientèle with a good number of them calling up the bank or visiting the branches on receipt of a message that said they would have to maintain a minimum monthly average balance of ₹5,000 in their savings bank account. Under its latest rules effective from April 1, 2017, the minimum balance to be maintained by customers in a metro is ₹5,000, while it is ₹3,000 in urban areas, ₹2,000 in semi-urban areas and ₹1,000 in rural areas, failing which penalty would be recovered from the respective accounts.

Bank sources, preferring anonymity, maintained that they were not sure from where the message had been sent out but confirmed that there were anxious calls from customers.

A cross-section of customers whom BusinessLine spoke to said that they were not informed of maintaining a minimum average balance of ₹5,000 at the time of opening the account.

“We live on a hand-to-mouth existence. How can we possibly have a four-figure average minimum balance?” asked Raju, a cart-puller, wondering if he had taken a wrong decision in opening a bank account in the first place.

Sivakumar, a security guard in a private company, said he was not informed of maintaining any minimum balance when he opened the account four years back, so was confused when he received a message from the bank which read “your SB account XXXXX....balance in April 2017 is below the required minimum monthly average. Please restore in 30 days to avoid charges in June.”

“My account is in a city branch. Am not too sure about the minimum balance as nothing is mentioned in the message. In any case, if they impose a charge, I will close my account and look for options elsewhere,” he said, worried about the charge he would have to pay.

An SBI spokesperson clarified that as per RBI guidelines “Coimbatore is correctly classified as a metro. Any centre where the population is more than 10 lakh is a metro.”

The Commissioner of City Municipal Corporation here said he was not aware of it. “We do not know on what basis the bank has classified Coimbatore as a metro. The classification is within the jurisdiction of the government.”

Meanwhile, the Secretary of Coimbatore Consumer Cause, K Kathirmathiyon, has in a communication to the Chairman of SBI urged immediate intervention. He has requested that the wrong be set right immediately and customers advised accordingly.

Customers would expect that, even if it means losing the ‘metro’ tag.

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