Average Quarterly Balance or AQB means the average balance required to be maintained in your bank account every quarter. In India most of the private sector banks charge a hefty fine on their customers for not maintaining the required Average Quarterly Balance amount in their savings accounts. Banks like AXIS Bank charge Rs 750 per quarter as penalty for non-maintenance of AQB whereas in nationalised Banks like SBI the penalty is Rs 500.
The SBI calculates the AQB from 1st January to 31st March or 1st April to 30th June and so on. AXIS Bank calculates the AQB from the 25th of the last month of the previous quarter to the 24thof the last month of the present quarter. For e.g. for quarter ending June 2009, AQB will be calculated from 25th of March to 24th of June 2009 and so on.
The AQB amount may vary from Bank to Bank. In SBI, the AQB amount is Rs 500 for an ordinary account whereas for a cheque operated account it is Rs 1000. In AXIS Bank it is Rs. 5000 and in ICICI Bank the amount is Rs 10000.
Penalties for Non-Maintenance of AQB: Apart from AQB Penalty other charges may be applied like Cheque Book Charges, Account Statement Charges, Outstation Cheque Clearance Charges, Inter-Branch Transactions Charges, Phone Banking Charges etc if you do not maintain AQB.
*How to Calculate AQB?
AQB is calculated by dividing sum of end of the day balance with number days in the particular quarter. Prepare a passbook of all the dates in the quarter. Whenever the transactions are not there leave everything blank except the balance amount which you must carry forward. Now at the end of the quarter you can total up the balance at the end of each day. Divide the above amount by 90 or 91 or 92 days (depending upon the quarter) to get the AQB.*