SBI vs Jana Small Finance Bank: Children’s Savings Accounts

SBI offers two children’s savings accounts, Pehla Kadam and Pehli Udaan while Jana Small Finance Bank does not offer a dedicated minor savings account even though the standard savings account can be opened by a minor jointly with a 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 Jana Small Finance Bank Limited

Jana Small Finance Bank does not offer a dedicated minor savings account and though it does not mention clearly on its website if the regular savings account is open for minors, reading of the Terms and Conditions of the service charges file shows that the account can be opened by or on behalf of minors.

Regular Savings Account

This is the standard savings account of the bank.

Features

  • The bank needs an average monthly balance of Rs. 2,500
  • The Regular Savings Account comes with a RuPay Debit Card
  • The bank has not put a cap on the number of withdrawals the accountholder can make though the bank’s ATMs, except for minors where it has been pegged at Rs. 10,000 per month
  • The bank has put a limit on the amount that can be withdrawn from the ATM or be spent at POS transaction for minor accounts. The cash withdrawal limit is Rs. 5,000 and the POS limit is Rs. 10,000 per day
  • The bank accountholder gets 3 complimentary cash transactions at other bank ATMs in metro locations and 5 at non-metro locations
  • Accountholders get one complimentary chequebook for each quarter
  • The company offers the customer the option of getting an SMS alert facility on payment of Rs. 15 per quarter

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)
  • Jana Small Finance Bank Website: www.janabank.com
  • Headquarters: Bengaluru, Karnataka
  • Call Centre Number: 1800 2080, 1800 4200