Reserve Bank of India and Govt. of India is all set to unleash some major changes related to the usage of ATMs in India. A high-level committee has already been established, which is looking at the proposed changes and the
announcements can be made within this month.
announcements can be made within this month.
Some of the changes which have been proposed include a penalty on empty ATMs, waiving off ATM transaction charges, and even the positioning of ATMs.
Suggestions for ATM revolution :-
Penalty For Empty ATMs
Dry or empty ATMs were a common sight during demonetization. Although the situation has vastly improved, but still, there are several locations where ATMs are still empty most of the times, and it causes severe inconvenience to the users.
As per some reports, Govt. is all set to make it a rule that if any ATM is found empty, there shall be penalty on the bank. As per the new proposed rules, no ATM shall be empty for more than 3 hours.
Every ATM has sensors installed, which alerts the banks about ATM running dry, and sometimes, these alerts are ignored.
Committee To Review ATM Charges :-
RBI has constituted a high-level committee, to overhaul and change the ATM service charges being levied by banks on the customers.
The 6-member committee has members from NPCI, banks such as HDFC Bank, SBI and officials from Confederation of ATM Industry and more.
Currently, every bank customers have been given limits on free withdrawals using their debit cards.
As per some analysts, this committee can completely waive off the ATM transaction charges. But there has been no confirmation yet.
Some reports indicate that white-label ATM operators (WLAOs) has asked RBI to increase ATM interchange fee from Rs 15 to Rs 18 for cash withdrawals, and from Rs 5 to Rs 8 for other non-financial transactions.
ATM Should Be Grouted To Wall, Pillar Or Floor:-
In 2016, Govt. had established a Committee on Currency Movement (CCM), and based on the recommendations of this committee, RBI has asked all bank to grout ATMs to walls or pillars or even floor.
This will ensure more safety of the ATM machines.
This notification doesn’t cover the ATMs placed in the airports.
The deadline for this new rule is September 30th.
The RBI notifications for all banks said: “All ATMs shall be grouted to a structure (wall, pillar, floor, etc.) by September 30 2019, except for ATMs installed in highly secured premises such as airports, etc. which have adequate CCTV coverage and are guarded by state/central security personnel”.
