An important and pocket-impacting update has emerged for crores of employed employees having salary accounts in the country's largest government bank, State Bank of India (SBI). If you also frequently withdraw cash from the debit card of your salary account from any nearby bank's ATM or Automated Deposit cum Withdrawal Machine (ADWM) or check the balance, then now you will have to count every transaction. State Bank has officially announced a huge reduction of up to 50 percent in the number of free transactions available at ATMs of other banks for all its types of salary package accounts (SBI Salary Package Accounts). This revised rule will become effective across the country from October 1. What is changing from October 1? Instead of 10, you will get only 5 free transactions. Under the current system, SBI has been giving the special facility of a total of 10 free monthly transactions every month from ATMs of other banks to its various salary package account holders like corporate, government, railway, defense and police. But from October 1, this limit will be reduced to only 5 free transactions per month. The most important thing about this new change is that this limit of 5 free transactions will be applicable equally for all the centers (both metro and non-metro cities). This means whether you are in a metro city like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru or in a small town or rural area, you will get a chance to swipe the card only 5 times at another bank's ATM without any charges. As soon as the quota of 5 times is exhausted, the prescribed service charge will start being deducted from your account from the sixth transaction. Not only withdrawing cash, quota will be deducted even after checking balance. Most of the account holders assume that 'free transaction' means only financial transaction. As per SBI rules, both financial and non-financial transactions will be counted in this limit of 5. If you go to another bank's ATM and just withdraw a mini statement, check the balance on the screen or change the PIN, that too will be considered as a complete transaction. For example, if you withdraw cash 3 times in a month and check your balance at the ATM 2 times, your 5 free transactions will end there. After this, if the card is used again in the same month, penalty charge will be levied directly. How much will be the burden on the pocket after the limit is reached? If you exceed the limit of 5 free transactions after October 1, you will be charged the following for transactions at another bank's ATM: Cash Withdrawal (Financial Transactions): ₹23 + 18% GST will be charged per transaction. Balance check or mini statement (non-financial transactions): ₹11 + 18% GST will be charged per transaction. This means that if you withdraw money from another bank's ATM even just twice in a month after the limit is reached, an additional amount of more than ₹ 54 will be deducted from the account. Will money be deducted at SBI's own ATM also? The biggest relief for salary account holders is that this new restriction has been implemented only on the ATM networks of other banks (like HDFC, ICICI, PNB, BoB etc.). Salary package account holders of SBI's own ATMs and ADWM will continue to get the same relief as before. Holders of all types of salary package accounts (including Shaurya Family Pension Account and Family Savings Account – SBI Rishtey) can do unlimited free transactions at any SBI ATM across the country. Apart from this, the rules for General Savings Accounts (Non-Salary Accounts) will remain the same, where the rule of 5 free transactions is already applicable at ATMs of other banks. 4 easy and smart ways to avoid extra charges Give priority to your SBI ATM: For cash withdrawal, always use the blue colored ATM or ADWM kiosk of State Bank of India, where there is no restriction for salaried holders. Stop checking balance at ATM: Do not use any other bank's ATM to know how much money is in your account. For this, take help of YONO app, WhatsApp Banking, UPI app or free SMS alerts received by the bank. Withdraw as much cash as you need at one go: Instead of repeatedly visiting the ATM to withdraw ₹500 or ₹1,000, withdraw cash for essential expenses for the entire week or 15 days in one go at the beginning of the month. Adopt digital payments and UPI Lite: Pay for small purchases, groceries or snacks directly with UPI, debit card swipe or UPI Lite instead of cash to minimize the need to visit ATMs.
