SBI vs Canara Bank: Children’s Savings Accounts
SBI offers two children’s savings accounts, Pehla Kadam and Pehli Udaan while Canara Bank has a Canara Junior Saving Account for children and the Canara NSIGSE Savings Bank Deposit Account for the girl child. The bank also has a children’s deposit scheme called the Canara Champ Deposit Scheme.
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 Canara Bank
Canara Junior Saving Account
The account is targeted at children above 10 years of age who can operate the account under their own name. Details are not available on the account’s page in the Canara Bank site whether children below 10 years can open the account or not as of September 2019.
Features
- Kids above 10 years can open the account under their own name and operate the account independently
- They get a debit card in their name with a monthly withdrawal limit of Rs. 5,000
- The bank mandates a monthly withdrawal limit of Rs. 10,000. Read with the debit card limit, this means that the child can withdraw another Rs. 5,000 by online transfer or cheques (not clear if bank provides these two facilities for this account) or by visiting the branch and putting in a withdrawal slip
- The account has two other restrictions. The first being that the balance at any point of time cannot be more than Rs. 50,000 and the second being the total credit cannot exceed Rs. 1,00,000 (1 lakh) in a year
- A declaration is required from the parent or guardian at the time of opening the Canara Junior Saving Account and for SMS alert facility
Canara NSIGSE Savings Bank Deposit Account
The account has been designed under the directives of the Ministry of Human Resources, Government of India, to reduce school dropout rates among girl children.
Features
- The account is available for the girl child who has passed class 8 and (a) belongs to an SC/ST group, or (b) has passed from a Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya and has enrolled herself for class 9 in state government, government-aided or local body school. Girls studying in private or Central Government schools are not eligible for the account
- The parent or guardian has to provide a declaration that the child has sufficient knowledge to operate the account
- No chequebooks are issued with the account until the kid reaches the age of 18 years. Until then, withdrawals are mainly through withdrawal slips
- There is no minimum balance requirement in the Canara NSIGSE Savings Bank Deposit Account, which can even have zero balance
Savings Bank Account
The generic savings bank account that can be opened for minors jointly with the parent or under their guardianship.
Features
- The accounts need an average monthly balance of Rs. 500 for rural areas and Rs. 1,000 for urban and metro areas
- The savings account pays interest in quarterly instalments in a year February, May, August and November
Canara Champ Deposit Scheme
A deposit scheme that is especially targeted at children up to the age of 12 years.
Features
- The deposit scheme will be opened in the child’s name. There is no facility for opening the account jointly with the parent or guardian
- The deposit can be opened for kids below the age of 12 years. After they attain maturity, it is converted into the standard savings account
- The bank offers an eye-catching savings box to help the child inculcate saving habits
- The kid also receives a personal photo folder with 16 pouches to record her life stages through photographs
- In case there is no withdrawal from the account, the account holder is eligible to receive a Loan Eligibility Card for an educational loan from the bank
- The interest rate in the Canara Champ Deposit Scheme is same as applicable for savings bank accounts. As of July 2018, this is 4% per annum
- The minimum deposit amounts are same as that for savings bank accounts, i.e. Rs. 500 for rural and Rs. 1,000 for urban and metros
- The bank offers the option to convert balances over Rs. 15,000 into the fixed deposits under its Kamadhenu Deposit Scheme (Re-Investment Plan)
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)
- Canara Bank Websites: www.canarabank.com/english/ and www.canarabank.in/ (net banking)
- Headquarters: Bangalore, Karnataka
- Call Centre Toll-Free Number: 1800 425 0018