Bank Account for Children in India
Two schools of thought exist, regarding children being allowed a bank account too early in life. We must understand that the exposure that children have these days is unprecedented. Therefore with changing times and technology, we must adapt ourselves and change our own thinking process. It is better to educate children on certain aspects of banking from an early age, so that they understand money matters better.
Banking norms for Kid’s account:-
There are set of basic rules that are followed by banks in India when it comes to children’s banking account. ‘Minor’ would make a much weighed word in legal terms instead of ‘children’ and an ‘account’ here would mean ‘savings account’.
An account can be opened in the name of a minor (person whose age is less than 18 years) by his/her parent or guardian who is the joint holder of the account. The account that is held jointly with the parent or guardian can be operated only by this parent or the guardian and not the minor.
A minor who is more than 10 years old can open and also operate an account by himself/herself. In this case the guardian/parent also will have the right to operate this account of the minor.
Two minors who are over 10 years of age can hold an account jointly.
General Features of children’s bank account:-
- As mentioned above a guardian or a parent can open an account for a minor and this account can either be jointly held or can be an independent account. For an independent account the minor has to be more than 10 years of age.
- The parent/guardian can choose to get bank statements on regular basis. This will be helpful for a parent/guardian to monitor the child’s account.
- The parent/guardian also has the option to give instructions to the bank to transfer certain specified sum of money into the child’s account on a regular basis.
- Banks that provide these accounts also provide all basic facilities that a savings account has. This includes debit card, pass book and some banks even provide cheque books for minors.
- Few banks also provide additional insurance covers to the life of parent/guardian. Here a certain sum is assured to the minor on the death (under specific conditions) of the parent/guardian. There are various types of deposit schemes for minors offered by other banks.
Eligibility and conditions:-
- A minor’s account can be opened in the name of or by a person who is less than 18 years old. There are specified situations where the age is extended to 21 as per the court’s declaration. In this case the minor’s guardian will be opening the account for the minor. Banks may have specific lower limits of age for entry into this account.
- The guardian/parent should hold an account with the bank where he/she wants to open an account for the minor.
- Usage of the money from the account and minimum amount that has to be credited into the account will be as per the basic rules set by individual banks. Penalty will be charged if the guardian/parent is not able to maintain minimum balance in the minor’s account.
- Once the account holder (child/minor) turns into major depending on the bank there will be few verifications made (signature or photograph).
Documents required for Kids bank account:-
The basic KYC norms will be followed while opening an account for a minor in the bank.
- Document for proof of age and address of the minor
- Document for the proof of relationship between the parent/guardian and the applicant minor
- Proof of identity of the minor
- Photographs of minor
If the parent/guardian is able to engage the minor in this account in an active manner then it sure does teach the minor to manage money. Since there are conditions like minimum average monthly/quarterly balance and also respective penalty if the same is not maintained it improves a minor’s money management skills gradually. On the other hand the account also paves way for a new era where children would be much equipped with knowledge of banking by the time they turn major.
At the same time the account also has a defect where it actually does not teach the child on where to spend. At times this lesson can be crucial and if the parent/guardian does monitor the kid’s account and spending on a regular basis, the entire objective of this scheme may fail.
Contributed By: Aruna Sharma |
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Mrs. Sharma holds a Masters in Financial Management from University of Mumbai. She has graduated from the University of Mumbai. | |
my daughter is 8 year old.... She is in 3 std. In kendriya vidyalaya ghaziabad. Kamla nehru nagar. i want to open account in the name of my daughter Kindly suggest me.
i am interested to open our 4 children saving account
pls give me the detail procedure and also form
what document required pls give me list
i am interested to open our 4 children saving account
pls give me the detail procedure and also form
what document required pls give me list