SBI vs North East Small Finance Bank: Children’s Savings Accounts

SBI vs North East Small Finance Bank: Children’s Savings Accounts

SBI offers two children’s savings accounts, Pehla Kadam and Pehli Udaan while North East Small Finance does not offer a dedicated savings bank account for minors. However, its standard and premium savings accounts may be available to minors, possibly jointly and to be operated by the parent or guardian.

Children’s Savings Accounts from SBI

Pehla Kadam

This account is meant for all children and may be opened jointly with a parent or guardian.

Features

  • There are no minimum balance requirements in this account
  • There is a limit of Rs. 5,000 on daily transactions. Transactions such as bill payments, prepaid mobile top-ups have a limit of Rs. 2,000 within the Rs. 5,000 limit
  • SBI offers an auto-sweep option with this account called SBI Multi Option Deposit Scheme (MODS). If the accountholders opt for this, then any amount above Rs. 20,000 in the account is put in a term deposit. The MOD is initially for a sum of Rs. 10,000 and in Rs. 1,000 multiples thereafter. As is common for banks, there is no clarity on the website if the auto-sweep facility kicks in if the account has a balance of Rs. 30,000
  • There is a cap of Rs. 10 lakh on the maximum balance in a Pehla Kadam account
  • The kid is eligible to get a specially branded chequebook and passbook, and also a personalised debit card with her own photo

Note: The links to specific accounts may not work. The above data was taken from internet searches. We have put the links here in the hope that they work some day. Even the WayBack Machine shows an error when we tried to pull a page from July 5, 2017.

Pehli Udaan

The account is meant for kids above 10 years of age. They are allowed to open and operate the account on their own.

Features

  • As mentioned, any child above the age of 10 years who can read and write, may open the account in her own name without the need for any parent or guardian
  • Except for the age criteria, the other features of the Pehli Udaan account are same as for the Pehla Kadam account

Children’s Savings Accounts from North East Small Finance Bank Limited

North East Small Finance Bank does not offer a dedicated savings bank account for minors though its standard and premium savings accounts may be available to minors, possibly jointly and to be operated by the parent or guardian.

Regular Savings Account

This is the standard savings account of the bank.

Features

  • The account has a minimum balance requirement of Rs. 500 in rural areas, Rs. 1,000 in semi-urban and Rs. 2,000 in urban areas
  • Accountholders get access to personalised debit cards
  • The bank offers doorstep banking facilities
  • The Regular Savings Account comes with free passbooks
  • Accountholders can manage and access their account details through the SMS facility or through online banking

Premium Savings Account

This savings account is one step up from the regular savings account.

Features

  • The account has a minimum average quarterly balance requirement of Rs. 25,000
  • Accountholders can get five demand drafts made in a month without any charge
  • The bank also offers two free NEFT, RTGS or IMPS transactions per month
  • Like the standard account, the Premium Savings Account also offers free passbooks, an SMS facility and online banking options

Reference Facts

  • State Bank of India Website: https://sbi.co.in and www.onlinesbi.com (net banking)
  • Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
  • Call Centre Number: 1800 425 3800, 1800 112 211, 1800 110 009 (pensioners only)
  • North East Small Finance Bank Website: www.nesfb.com
  • Headquarters: Guwahati, Assam
  • Call Centre Number: 1800 121 1905