BANKING & SAVING

Savings accounts compared: SBI vs Bank of Baroda vs ICICI vs HDFC Bank

Loknath Das

All the major banks including SBI, Bank Of Baroda, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC and ICICI Bank offer their customers several variations of savings accounts. (AFP)

A savings account is one of the basic financial products that everyone must have. All the major banks including State Bank of India (SBI), Bank Of Baroda (BoB), Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC and ICICI Bank offer their customers several variations of savings accounts. These are just basic savings accounts where you can leave your money and earn an interest in the range of 3.5-6%, depending on the amount and the bank. The interest amount then gets credited to the customer on a quarterly basis, according to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) rules.

Here are the savings account interest rates for major Indian banks:

SBI: The State Bank of India, the largest one, offers its customers 3.50% interest rates on savings deposit balance of up to ₹1 crore. Above ₹1 crore, the interest rate levied on savings balance is 4% per annum. Following the 25bps reduction in repo rate by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 4 April, SBI’s cash credit and overdraft rate will be reduced by 25bps with effect from 1 May. The savings bank rate also stands revised to 3.5% for balances up to ₹1 lakh and 3.25% for above ₹1 lakh.

Kotak Mahindra Bank: Private lender Kotak Mahindra Bank has cut the interest rate on savings account deposits of up to ₹1 lakh. The rate of interest has been lowered to 4.5% from 5% earlier, according to the bank’s website. The revision in interest rate came into effect from 15 April 2019. The interest rate on savings account deposits on balance above ₹1 lakh and up to ₹1 crore remains unchanged at 6%. Similarly, the interest rate on savings accounts balance of above ₹1 crore remains steady at 5.5%.

Bank of Baroda: Bank of Baroda (BoB), which has become the second largest public sector bank after SBI following its amalgamation with Bengaluru-based Vijaya Bank and Mumbai-based Dena Bank, offers an interest rate of 3.50% to 4.00% on savings account.

HDFC Bank: HDFC Bank is offering an interest rate of 3.50% per annum (p.a.) on savings deposit balance below ₹50 lakh. Above this amount, HDFC levies an interest rate of 4% p.a.

ICICI Bank: ICICI Bank, too like HDFC, gives its customers the same range of interest rates. For account balance below ₹50 lakh, the interest rate is 3.5% per annum. The interest rate of 4% for savings balance amount over ₹50 lakh.

[“source=livemint”]