PNB’s latest action may affect lakhs of depositors, many of whom have account balances of less than Rs 10 lakh.
New Delhi: The Punjab National Bank, or PNB, has reduced the interest rates on its savings accounts, which has disappointed the lender’s consumers. The public sector bank has announced that interest rates on bank accounts with less than Rs 10 lakh in balance have been reduced to 2.70 percent per annum. The interest rate on accounts with balances between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 500 crore has been cut to 2.75 percent per annum. The revised rates become effective on Monday, April 4, 2022. This will apply to both local and NRI account holders, according to a notice on PNB’s website.
PNB’s latest action may affect lakhs of depositors, many of whom have account balances of less than Rs 10 lakh. This is due to the Punjab National Bank being India’s second largest public sector bank, trailing only the State Bank of India (SBI). This means that PNB has savings accounts for tens of thousands of consumers.
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The bank has further decreased the interest rate on savings accounts for depositors for the second time in two months. The public sector lender announced a rate drop on its savings account in February, offering 2.75 percent interest on deposits up to Rs 10 lakh. An annual interest rate of 2.80 percent was offered on savings accounts with balances ranging from Rs 10 lakh to less than Rs 500. The public sector lender dropped both of these rates by 0.5% effective Monday, only days before the Reserve Bank of India’s bi-monthly Monetary Policy Committee meeting.
PNB also announced in February that it will levy a Rs 250 penalty if an EMI or other installment is not paid due to a lack of sufficient balance in an account holder’s account. In the Punjab National Bank, this was formerly set at Rs 100.
Furthermore, the Punjab National Bank increased the non-maintenance of quarterly average balance (QAB) limit in metro city areas by Rs 5,000 commencing in January of this year. Customers were previously charged Rs 5,000 for this, and the new rates are Rs 10,000. The PNB has also increased its locker charges in all areas, including rural, semi-urban, metropolitan, and metro towns, and has decreased the number of free visits to bank lockers.
The Punjab National Bank is giving interest rates ranging from 0.5% to 0.75 percent on short-term deposits as part of its Gold Monetisation Scheme. Interest rates of 2.25 percent and 2.5 percent per year are offered on medium and long-term deposits, respectively.
