Savings bank accounts can be considered to be the most basic banking facility engaging people worldwide. Banks in India have introduced several attractive features to make their bank accounts popular and one amongst those is the zero balance savings account where there is no compulsion to have a minimum balance.
Some other banks started it as a result of the Government of India’s initiative of providing savings bank accounts to all citizens under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). Here’s a list of some of the best zero balance accounts to choose from.
Key documents needed to open a zero balance savings bank account include the below:
Proof of identity required by both salaried and self-employed:
All the above mentioned documents can be used for the purpose of KYC, but as per the new government guideline the applicant must produce an Aadhaar card or PAN card to open a bank account. Rest of the documents may not hold the same credit. In case the applicant is a non-resident India (NRI), they can produce other documents besides Aadhaar and PAN.
Indian companies do not have any account opening fee but there can be various charges which an account holder must know about before opening an account.
The AePS refers to the Aadhaar authentication-based network of micro ATMs and the full form is Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS). This allows banking transactions at PoS (microATMs) through the business correspondent of any bank by using Aadhaar authentication.
The National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) was started by the Reserve Bank of India to facilitate consumers in transferring money between any two bank accounts of the same or a different bank on a one-to-one basis. As long as both the bank accounts are NEFT-enabled, a money transfer is possible within minutes.
The Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) is governed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI, which is an RBI body) for instant payment via the inter-bank electronic funds transfer system in India.
The NPCI has launched RuPay cards to facilitate banks and financial institutions by providing them a purely Indian card with universal acceptance.
To rate a particular bank for its savings accounts we have taken into consideration the following factors.
An account which does not need a monthly balance to be maintained. In a few rare cases one may need to deposit some money in the beginning to open the account, but can also take that money out of that account as soon as the account is active( even within five minutes). In most of the zero balance accounts one does not need to deposit anything to open it and hence there are no penalties charged for not maintaining the minimum account.
One can visit the nearest branch of the bank providing a zero balance savings account with the KYC documents to get an account started. Applicants will have to select from the number of kinds of savings accounts available and categorically tell the branch that they were interested in a zero balance savings account only. Once the documents are checked the account can be activated.
Applicants can open a zero balance account with either of the following documents as identity proof:
Zero balance accounts can be opened by applying online and getting the KYC formalities done on a video call. This can also be done by visiting websites which have partnered with the service provider.
Customers wanting to convert their savings account to a zero balance account will have to visit their savings account and will have to visit their branch and fill the required form to convert their normal savings account to a zero balance account and get it converted.
The Government of India is encouraging all the banks to provide the facility of zero balance savings accounts so that the citizens may take the benefits of various government schemes like Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna and accordingly all the private and public sector banks have come up with their zero balance savings accounts. People wanting to open a zero balance savings account can choose from the long list of banks as per their convenience.
There are many benefits of opening a zero balance savings account which are as follows:
