South Indian Bank vs SBI: Children’s Savings Accounts

South Indian Bank vs State Bank of India: Children’s Savings Accounts

South Indian Bank offers a dedicated account for students called the Junior Savings Account. SBI offers two children’s savings accounts, Pehla Kadam and Pehli Udaan.

Children’s Savings Accounts from South Indian Bank

South Indian Bank offers children and youth-centric accounts as well as savings accounts for women and senior citizens in addition to general savings accounts.

Junior Savings Account

This account is primarily meant for students.

Features

  • Children above the age of 10 years can open the account
  • All they need is an introduction from the principal, head of department (for college) and a photo ID card. Other standard introduction measures also work
  • The minimum amount needed to open this account is Rs. 10 though the minimum balance needed is Rs. 150. The bank gives a time of three months to take the balance to this level
  • Chequebooks and online banking are made available when the child reaches the age of 18 years and keeps an average balance of Rs. 1,000
  • The bank offers a complimentary ATM-debit card to kids having the Junior Savings Account
  • Children with this account are eligible to apply for education loans from South Indian Bank

Children’s Savings Accounts from State Bank of India

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

Reference Facts

  • South Indian Bank Website: www.southindianbank.com
  • Headquarters: Thrissur, Kerala
  • Call Centre Number: 1800 425 1809, 1800 102 9408
  • 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)