Which bank to open an account in?

[tsk1979]

When a company opens a salary account for you in a bank, it means that you can have 0 balance in that account.
Its as good as a savings account, but you get some perks which are normally given to "high value customer accounts"
For example if you maintain a minimum balance of 25000 you can have DDs made for free(upto 25000rs) in HDFC bank. So no Demand Draft Fee.
I get the same benefit on my Salary account, and I don't have to maintain a minimum balance.
Different banks have different "grades" of Savings accounts.
So don't just go and open accounts, let your company open one. If you are dissatisfied by the features, you can approach another bank.
As for online transfers, Citi/HDFC/Kotak/ICICI etc., etc., all allow online transfers. Its called NEFT.
Some banks like SCB also offer Visa money transfers where you can send money to any VISA card.

[Zappo]

Actually, salary accounts are also savings account but they are opened for you by your employer. You just need to sign some papers.

Now how sweet the deal is depends entirely on the clout your employer has in the corporate world. The bigger the organization, the better the deals are for its employees. Employees in my organization get a 0 balance savings account, free of cost Visa Debit/ATM card, At par cheque book, overdraft facility, free transactions across any Non-ICICI ATMs, free Demand Drafts (i.e. no DD charges for making one) etc.

In my experience with ICICI, HDFC bank, SBI, Citi and UTI bank I will say that HDFC is probably the most efficient. However ICICI has more branches, ATMs and of course their Net banking facility is much better than HDFCs. HDFC is much more conservative and hence appear more rigid at times. UTI is mercurial. How good the service is depends entirely on the manager of that branch. I have seen pathetic service at one branch and exemplary services in another at the same time.

If you wish to open an account with SBI ensure that it is only with a Personal Banking branch. Many people are not aware of this but the SBI has two different types of branches. The junta ones that everyone knows about (and detastes) and the chic Personal Banking branches. These branches are decked up in mahogany wood with ACed floors, glass cubicles etc. They also require that you maintain 5000 rupees to open an account with them, just like private banks. They also provide you anywhere banking facilities (just like private banks). SBI's net banking is also pretty good. By the way, SB, most SBI branches that you see in IT parks (at least the chic ones, wityh courteous staff) are actually Personal Banking branches where average employee age is much lesser and most of them are trained in SBI Staff Training College specifically for working in PB branches.

Citi is the most pathetic amongst all. Their only motive is to fleece their customers. Period. And the way they do it will leave you exasperated and fuming. So avoid them like plague. Also, their Suvidha account is really bull!

[muralisk]

Try Citibank or HDFC Bank. They are best and have amazing online and offline services.

[Technocrat]

Also, their Suvidha account is really bull!

its only good if opened by your employer as its in my case else yes like you said

[Shakensoul]

Apart from the above points mentioned by tsk1979, in a normal savings account, there is a withdrawal fee if you withdraw cash from any other ATM , like 20-30 rupees per withdrawal. In a salary account, there is no fee for withdrawing cash from a third party ATM.

Also a salary account is a tie-up between your company and the bank, and the benefits and perks are pre-decided depending on your company. Not all salaried accounts will have the same benefits.

I have been banking with HDFC for quite sometime now and I primarily use netbanking for all my transactions, experience has been very satisfactory.

I also use SBI online facility, which is very good. SBI has improved a lot in terms of its online transactional facilities and they have introduced a lot of features, including transfer to any VISA credit card free of cost. The online experience has been much more better than walking into a SBI bank.

[neofromcapone]

Kotak is the best bank, I have dealt with, customer service, facilities, ATM (tie-up with HDFC) online trading is also very good. The best part is their employees, they know how to tackle a query with professionalism.

Try It

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by Technocrat

I dont agree I do transfers between Citi & ICICI & no problems whatsoever.

I have accounts with ICICI Citi & SBI & ICICI

Is it ? Have you transferred from ICICI to Citi ? Coz I can't find Citi in the list of the banks for online transfer tagged to my ICICI account.

[CR-V]

online banking?
why not try the likes of dutch bank and barkley, though new they are good. Just make sure you have a branch near you.

[Technocrat]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Is it ? Have you transferred from ICICI to Citi ? Coz I can't find Citi in the list of the banks for online transfer tagged to my ICICI account.

Yes I have transfered from ICICI to Citi.

- Go to Funds Transfer section:

- Select "Transfer funds to any of the specified non ICICI Bank Accounts with specified Banks across India"

- Click on "Add an eCheque Payee."

- Fill in city name for City search

- Click on "Get City" button

- Click on "Get Banks" button

You should see all the available banks here & I can see Citi bank for Pune.

Hope this helps

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by Technocrat

You should see all the available banks here & I can see Citi bank for Pune.

Tried this for Delhi. No citibank. Sorry Nikhil for the OT posts

[nishantgandhi]

Except ICICI, go to any bank. I would personally recommend HDFC for ease of transactions wrt Netbanking and ATM. Have heard good reviews of Kotak as well. Citibank used to be good but can act pricey at times.

[appuchan]

Well, for deposits prefer scheduled/govt banks (read stable) and for loans prefer pvt banks(read unstable) .

Jokes apart, my experience for the last 8 years with Citibank Suvidha has been very positive. Of course as tsk said, it was opened by my employer and fortunately all my subsequent employers also used Citibank for salary credits.

I also have a savings account with ICICI where I have my credits and demat facility. However, in spite of my being chosen as their "private banking" customer, I would rate their services - both on and offline - as below par. In fact, I had even come across a situation when I had to urgently transfer some funds from ICICI to another bank, they had declined it as it was not attempted within "certain time limits (like between 10AM and 1PM IST)" . I cant think of any other online service provider (supposed to be anywhere/anytime) imposing hard time limits for making transactions. What would happen if I were travelling and in a different timezone? They also expect us to carry around the debit card with us even for online banking as it asks for some codes from the debit card for each online transaction. All this crap in the name of security are extremely "non-webbish"!

After this experience I had moved all my savings from ICICI to Citibank where things are much easier. Dont have experience with HDFC and others.

[nbr]

Originally Posted by Zappo

In my experience with ICICI, HDFC bank, SBI, Citi and UTI bank I will say that HDFC is probably the most efficient. However ICICI has more branches, also pretty good.

after the recent merger of HDFC with centurion bank of punjab, HDFC has now more branches than ICICI

[Mission_Safari]

Originally Posted by appuchan

In fact, I had even come across a situation when I had to urgently transfer some funds from ICICI to another bank, they had declined it as it was not attempted within "certain time limits (like between 10AM and 1PM IST)" . I cant think of any other online service provider (supposed to be anywhere/anytime) imposing hard time limits for making transactions. What would happen if I were travelling and in a different timezone? They also expect us to carry around the debit card with us even for online banking as it asks for some codes from the debit card for each online transaction. All this crap in the name of security are extremely "non-webbish"!

AFAIK the time restriction is with all the banks which use EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) for funds transfer across banks. You can choose for NEFT or give a standing instruction in that case.

IMO The codes from the boxes behind the debit card is a good thing as it is an additional security whenever you do an online transfer.

[amohit]

Among all this also consider what are your bank charges for ATM cash withdrawal from other bank's ATM.

I have banked with citi(suvidha), hdfc, corporation, sbi, canara. Among nationalized banks, I find Corporation bank to be the best and among pvt banks, citi.

Regards,