The State Bank of India (SBI) announced that it will not ask customers to maintain a minimum balance in savings accounts, as reported by news agency PTI.

The state-owned bank rationalized interest rate on savings bank accounts to a flat 3 percent annum. It also waived off SMS charges.

SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar said in a statement, "This announcement will bring in more smiles and delight to our valuable customers. We believe this initiative would empower our customers towards banking with SBI and boost their confidence in SBI."

SBI, earlier in the day, slashed its Marginal Cost ofFunds based Lending Rate (MCLR) by 10-15 basis points across all tenors fromMarch 10, 2020, moving to make home and auto loans cheaper.

Earlier, SBI customers had to maintain an average monthly balance of Rs 3,000, Rs 2,000 and Rs 1,000 in metro, semi-urban and rural areas respectively.

Thebank used to levy a penalty of Rs 5 to Rs 15 plus taxes for not maintaining theminimum balance.