State Bank of India, SBI has waived off SMS charges in addition to its penalty waiver on non-maintenance of minimum balance for all its Savings Accounts. SBI has over 44 crore savings accounts. The public sector bank informed that the waiver of such charges is applicable for all kinds of savings accounts including those with cheque or Internet Banking facilities.

Earlier, SBI customers had to maintain an average monthly balance of  3000, 2000 and  1000 rupees in metro, semi urban and rural areas respectively. The bank used to levy a penalty of  5 to  15 rupees plus taxes on non-maintenance of average monthly balance. The Bank had announced in the month of March this year that the minimum balance charges will be waived off for all its Savings Account customers.