India Inc. at Digital Inspiration

ICICI Bank raises balance requirement to maintain a Savings A/c

Posted: 15 Apr 2008 10:19 PM CDT

ICICI BranchIn a move which would affect 15% of its total savings banks account, ICICI Bank has increased the minimum quarterly average balance required for its savings accounts from current Rs.5,000 to Rs.10,000 w.e.f. July 1, 2008.

The revision has been made after a long gap and according to the bank is due to rise in infrastructure costs. However, this may also be a part of the company's change in strategic focus as it would have fulfilled its targeted customer base and would have wanted to switch to accounts with higher deposits.

As the cost of maintaining a low and high balance amount works out to be the same for the bank, the bank would have thought it's better to serve high value accounts rather than regular accounts.

Although, zero balance and special accounts like salary, senior citizens and no-frills accounts would continue to enjoy the same privilege as earlier.

With this rise, ICICI Bank joins Kotak Mahindra Bank to become the most expensive bank to maintain a Saving Bank A/c. Other private sector banks continue like HDFC, Axis continues to have Rs.5000 as minimum average quarterly balance.

On the other hand, PSU banks still have Rs.500 / Rs.1000 as balance requirements while most foreign banks require Rs.10000 as minimum QAB.

The current penalty for non-maintenance of QAB for ICICI Bank customer is Rs.750 + 12.36% service tax. And with rise in QAB, the penalty amount is also expected to rise proportionally, considering ICICI penchant for levying charges on non-fulfillment of bank requirements.

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Your mobile number is going to change

Posted: 15 Apr 2008 01:25 AM CDT

Come next year, and you may have to update all your mobile and phone directories as all mobile numbers will then have 11 digits instead of current 10 digits with ‘9′ being prefixed to all mobile numbers and thus ‘99′ will become the first two digits of every mobile number.

The above plan is another testimony to growing mobile market in India with 8 million mobile subscribers being added each month and total subscribers to soon overtake that of US subscribers becoming the second largest mobile market in the world.

However, the fixed line phone numbers would continue to remain as is it is. While all GSM and CDMA subscribers whether old or new, would now have 11 digit numbers.

All the new telephone operators like Unitech, Shyam Telelink, Videocon among others would be alloted series of number starting with 90 and 91.

Apart from India, China and UK follow 11-digit numbers, while USA has a more integrated pattern of common numbering plan with similar numbers for mobile as well as landline numbers, much like Tata ‘Walky’ and Reliance ‘Hello’. via

Your mobile number is going to change - Digital Inspiration | FAQ | RSS

Vodafone Bringing Apple iPhone to India in September 2008

Posted: 15 Apr 2008 12:44 AM CDT

iphone vodafone india It’s time for unlocked iPhone sellers in India to close shop as cell operator Vodafone is officially bringing the much awaited iPhone to the country in September this year. The price of iPhone in India will be around 28k.

Steve Jobs hinted last month that iPhone launch in India would happen sometime in 2008 and that Apple may not restrict the iPhone distribution deal to just one operator like they do in the US where AT&T is the exclusive distributor.

According to BS, Apple could make iPhone accessible though other telecom carriers in India like Reliance or Airtel. Earlier reports suggested that iPhone in India could debut at Reliance Retail - that obviously didn’t happen but the Vodafone - Apple deal suddenly makes lot of sense.

Vodafone Bringing Apple iPhone to India in September 2008 - Digital Inspiration | FAQ | RSS