State Bank of India customers who hold salary package accounts are about to lose some of the free elbow room they currently enjoy at other banks' ATMs. From October 1, 2026, the country's largest lender will let these customers make only five free transactions a month at ATMs run by other banks, down sharply from the ten they are used to today. The change lands squarely on salary account holders, and it does not distinguish between what kind of transaction is being carried out. Whether a customer is pulling out cash or simply checking how much money is left in the account, every single interaction with another bank's ATM or an Automated Deposit cum Withdrawal Machine (ADWM) will now count toward the same monthly quota of five free transactions.
Free transactions slashed at other-bank ATMs
Until now, SBI salary package customers could rely on a comparatively generous cushion of ten free transactions every month when they stepped outside the SBI network and used a rival bank's ATM. That cushion is being cut in half. Starting October 1, only five such transactions will be free in any given month, and this cap applies whether the customer is withdrawing cash or carrying out a non-financial task like a balance enquiry or printing a mini statement. The bank has folded cash withdrawals and non-financial services into one combined limit rather than keeping separate allowances for each. That is an important shift in how the quota works, because it means a customer cannot assume that checking a balance is essentially free just because no money changes hands.
Metro and non-metro classification scrapped
SBI has also done away with the old distinction between metro and non-metro locations for this category of customer. Previously, the number of free transactions could vary depending on whether the ATM being used sat in a metro city or a smaller town. That geographic split has now been removed entirely for salary account holders using other banks' ATMs, and the five-transaction limit will apply uniformly no matter where in the country the customer is standing. In practical terms, this means a salaried customer in a metro city and one in a small town will be treated exactly the same way going forward, with no extra allowance for location.
What you pay once the free quota runs out
Once a salary package account holder crosses the five free transactions permitted at other-bank ATMs in a month, charges kick in. Every additional cash withdrawal beyond the free limit will cost Rs 23 plus GST. Every additional non-financial transaction, such as a balance check or a mini statement request beyond the limit, will attract a charge of Rs 11 plus GST. Individually, these charges look modest. But the bank has been clear that they apply per transaction, so a customer who frequently steps outside the SBI network for small cash withdrawals or repeated balance checks could see the costs stack up over a month.
A simple example of how the count adds up
Because cash withdrawals and non-financial transactions now share the same pool, customers need to keep a running tally of everything they do at another bank's ATM, not just their withdrawals. Consider an SBI salary account holder who checks their balance three times at another bank's ATM in a month and also makes three cash withdrawals during the same period. That already adds up to six transactions in total. Since the free limit is only five, the sixth transaction, regardless of whether it was a withdrawal or a balance check, would attract the applicable charge. This is precisely why the bank is flagging that customers who habitually use other banks' ATMs just to check their balance or print a mini statement, rather than to withdraw cash, could burn through their free quota faster than they expect.
Regular savings account holders are not affected
It's worth being clear about who this change actually touches. The revised rule is specifically aimed at SBI salary package account holders. Customers who hold an ordinary SBI savings account, rather than a salary package account, will continue under the transaction rules that already apply to their account category, and nothing changes for them from October 1. For these regular savings account customers, the existing structure continues: five free transactions at ATMs across all centres remain available under their current terms. Once that limit is crossed, the same charges apply as before, Rs 23 plus GST for each additional cash withdrawal and Rs 11 plus GST for each additional non-financial transaction. SBI ATM transactions themselves are not affected by this change either. Customers will continue to receive whatever benefits are applicable to their particular salary account category when they use SBI's own ATM network; the tightening is specifically about transactions carried out at other banks' machines.
Check which category your account falls under
Given that the benefits and the transaction limits differ depending on whether an account is classified as a salary package account or a regular savings account, customers would do well to confirm exactly which category their account falls under before October 1 arrives. Someone who assumes they still have ten free other-bank ATM transactions a month, when in fact their account has been recategorised or always fell under the salary package rules, could end up paying charges they did not expect. With the metro and non-metro split gone and cash withdrawals now sharing a single quota with balance enquiries and mini statements, the safest approach for affected customers is to treat every other-bank ATM visit, for any reason, as one unit against a five-transaction monthly ceiling.
