India Post Payments Bank Zero Balance Accounts: 10 Things To Know

Did you know India Post Payments Bank, under the Department of Posts, offers three types of bank accounts? State-run India Post Payments Bank, which was launched in January 2017, currently permits a bank balance up to Rs 1 lakh in its savings accounts. It also offers services such as digitally-enabled payments and remittance services. One can choose from three options while opening a bank account in the bank. These are: Regular Account or 'Safal', Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account (BSBDA) or 'Sugam', and BSBDA Small or 'Saral'. While all three are zero balance accounts, meaning they do not require the bank account holder to maintain any specific balance every month, they offer an interest rate of 5.5 per cent (payable on a quarterly basis), according to the website of India Post, which runs the network of post offices in the country.

Here are 10 things to know about India Post Payments Bank accounts Safal, Sugam and Saral:

1. Age requirement: The Saral, Safal and Sugam bank accounts can be opened in the name of anyone with a minimum age of 10 years. The applicant is required to take up a KYC (Know Your Customer) verification, according to the India Post website. KYC refers to a set of rules stipulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for banks to verify the identity of their customers.

2. Minimum deposit/balance requirement: IPPB requires the applicant to deposit a minimum amount of Rs 100 for opening a Regular Savings Account (Safal). There is no such requirement for the other two account types. There is no requirement for the account holder to maintain any particular minimum balance average in any of the three accounts. However, the Safal and Sugam accounts permit a maximum balance of Rs 1 lakh at a time. For the Saral account, this limit has been set at Rs 50,000, according to India Post.

3. Free services: All three bank accounts - Safal, Saral and Sugam - come with a few facilities free of cost. These range from issuance of an ATM card or debit card, mobile alerts to printing of duplicate bank statements. Besides, transactions at India Post and PNB ATMs are not chargeable, according to the India Post website.

4. Debit card: While the first issuance of debit card is free in case of all three bank accounts, subsequent issuance costs the customer Rs 100.

5. Transactions at bank branch: In each of the bank accounts, four transactions at the bank branch are allowed a month without any charges. Subsequently, a fee of Rs 20 per transaction is charged for any transaction at a branch or customer service point.

6. ATM transactions: India Post Payments Bank allows three transactions every month at ATMs of other banks in metros, and five a month in case of such ATMs in non-metro cities.

7. Additional ATM transaction charges: Beyond the stipulated number of free transactions allowed at ATMs of other banks, the customer is charged a fee of Rs 20 for every transaction of financial nature. For every such non-financial transaction, the bank charges Rs 8.

8. ATM cash withdrawal limit: In Safal and Sugam bank accounts, IPPB currently allows ATM withdrawals up to Rs 10,000 per transaction, and up to Rs 25,000 per day. In case of Saral bank account, an aggregate of Rs 10,000 per month is allowed "by way of withdrawals through withdrawal slips at Branch, ATM, POS (Point of Sale) Outlets and E-Commerce Transactions", India Post Payments Bank noted.

9. PIN regeneration: IPPB provides a PIN regeneration facility by charging a fee of Rs 50.

10. NEFT/IMPS charges: The bank charges a fee between Rs 2.5 and Rs 5 for NEFT and IMPS transactions from any of the three bank accounts.