The State Bank of India (SBI) wants to catch its customers young. It has introduced two new savings bank (SB) products — ‘Pehla Kadam’ and ‘Pehli Udaan’— for children. These come with Internet and mobile banking facilities.
The bank, in a statement said, Pehla Kadam is an SB account for a minor of any age, operated jointly with their parent/guardian while Pehli Udaan is a singly-operated SB account for a minor aged 10 years and above and who can sign uniformly.
All the account holders will be given a personalised photo ATM-cum-Debit Card. Other features bundled along with these two products are: internet banking with limited transaction facilities such as bill payment, opening of fixed deposits, recurring deposits, with a daily transaction limit of ₹5,000; mobile banking with limited transaction facilities like bill payments, top-ups with a daily transaction limit of ₹2,000.
They will also get an auto sweep facility (into FDs) with a minimum threshold of ₹20,000 and in multiples of ₹1,000. At the launch of the two products, Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairperson, SBI emphasised the importance of cultivating savings habits from childhood, managing and spending money wisely.