The news that ICICI Bank has raised the minimum balance requirement to ₹50,000 in urban centres while setting different slabs for other areas might sound like a routine corporate decision. But scratch the surface and you will see something far more dangerous: the rise of a modern-day caste system disguised as “policy.”
When you say a city resident must park ₹50,000 just to keep an account alive, you are doing more than managing finances. You are deciding who is “worthy” of banking and who is not. You are saying that convenience, safety, and financial dignity belong only to those who already have more.
This is not just about one bank. It is about a mindset. The same mindset that once decided who could enter certain temples, who could sit in which part of a classroom, who could drink from which well is now deciding who gets access to the simplest financial services.
We have seen this before in many forms:
• Credit cards with “Platinum” and “Black” labels, not for better service but to build a false hierarchy of status.
• Luxury cars and branded fashion marketed as “exclusive” to feed the illusion of superiority.
• Airlines dividing a single cabin into sections so your class is visible to everyone who walks past you.
It is the same old play. Separate, divide, create prestige for a few, and make the rest feel “less.”
The worst part is that it is done so quietly and so “professionally” that most people do not even see it as discrimination. They call it “market segmentation” or “business strategy.” But let us be honest. This is economic segregation. It is a wall built with money instead of bricks.
Banks were supposed to be bridges, connecting people to opportunity, helping the less privileged grow. Instead, they are turning into gatekeepers of privilege, deciding who gets to be on the inside.
The question we must ask is not “Can the bank do this?” but “Should they?”
At what point do we say enough is enough?
At what point do we stop accepting that unfairness is normal as long as it is wrapped in a corporate logo and announced in a press release?
This is not just about ₹50,000. This is about the kind of society we are allowing to be built around us. Quietly, efficiently, without protest.
And here is the real danger. If we stay silent today, tomorrow this wall will be higher, and you might just find yourself on the wrong side of it.
Comments
Post a Comment