Punjab National Bank vs Indian Bank: Children’s Savings Accounts

Punjab National Bank offers dedicated accounts for kids such as PNB Junior SF Account and the PNB Vidyarthi SF Account. Indian Bank provides the IB Smart Kid SB Account for children and probably its standard savings account jointly with a parent or guardian.

Children’s Savings Accounts from Punjab National Bank

PNB is the second largest bank in India after SBI and offers specific accounts for children such as the PNB Junior SF Account and the PNB Vidyarthi SF Account.

PNB Junior SF Account

The account can be opened by a child through her parent or guardian or she can open and operate it herself if she has crossed 10 years of age.

Features

  • As mentioned, any child of any age can open the PNB Junior SF Account through her parent or guardian. Children over 10 years of age can open and operate the account under their own name
  • There is no minimum deposit needed to open the account. Plus, there is no need for any minimum balance either
  • The child can get a free cheque book of 20 leaves per six months, i.e. two chequebooks of 40 leaves per year
  • Demand drafts made out to pay school or college fees are free of cost
  • The bank, however, has put a limit of Rs. 5,000 on debit card use per day, be that through ATM withdrawals, POS transactions at shops (card swipe in case you are wondering) or online payments
  • Kids or their parents can have a view of the account balance and transactions through both online and mobiles but transactions are not allowed

PNB Vidyarthi SF Account

The account as the name suggests is for children studying in recognised educational institutions.

Features

  • The account is available for children up to 21 years of age. Once they reach adulthood, the account becomes a standard savings account with all its perks and limitations
  • Like the PNB Junior SF Account, there are no minimum balance requirements for initial deposit and average quarterly balance in the PNB Vidyarthi SF Account
  • All demand drafts made out for any type of fees are free of cost
  • Like the children’s account, the child is eligible to receive two chequebooks of 20 leaves each per year
  • Most fees and charges in the account have been waived off by the bank through there is an annual maintenance charge for the debit card

Children’s Savings Accounts from Indian Bank

The bank offers the IB Smart Kid SB Account for children and in all likelihood, its savings account also under the parent’s or guardian’s name as done by most banks though information on that is not clearly available in the website.

IB Smart Kid SB Account

The bank offers the IB Smart Kid SB Account for children who are only 1 day old to those below 18 years of age.

Features

  • The bank mandates a minimum average monthly balance of Rs. 100 for accounts without chequebooks and Rs. 250 for those that have chequebooks
  • Kids above 10 years are eligible to have their own debit card provided the parent or guardian agrees to the issue of the card
  • The child also gets access to the online account if the parent or guardian provides her consent
  • Interest is credited quarterly in the months of January, April, July and October

Reference Facts

  • Punjab National Bank Website: www.pnbindia.in and www.netpnb.com (net banking)
  • Headquarters: New Delhi, Delhi
  • Call Centre Number: 1800 180 2222, 1800 103 2222
  • Indian Bank Website: www.indianbank.in and www.indianbank.net.in (net banking)
  • Headquarters: Chennai, Tamil Nadu
  • Call Centre Number (24 Hours): 1800 425 00 000, 1800 425 4422