RBI to penalise banks for non-availability of cash in ATMs from October 1
Story highlights
The RBI will start imposing a penalty on banks in case the ATMs remain out-of-cash for a total period of 10 hours in a month from October 1, 2021, onwards.
Concerned over the inconvenience caused to the public due to the non-availability of cash in ATMs, the Reserve Bank has decided to penalise banks for failure to timely replenish currency notes in such machines.
The RBI will start imposing a penalty on banks in case the ATMs remain out-of-cash for a total period of 10 hours in a month from October 1, 2021, onwards.
“The Scheme of Penalty for non-replenishment of ATMs has been formulated to ensure that sufficient cash is available to the public through ATMs,” the RBI said in a circular.
trending now
)
Strong winds knock over US' National Christmas Tree outside White House
)
Europe shivers as cold snap tightens grip in second winter without Russian fuel supplies
)
India: IMD issues orange alert in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Karaikal in wake of very heavy rainfall
)
NASA shares image of 'Hidden galaxy' which is 11 million light-years away from Earth
)
Wonka reviews: Timothée Chalamet-led prequel receives rave first reactions
)
Israel-Hamas War LIVE: Released hostages handed over to Red Cross in Gaza
)
US: Woman chews on human finger mixed with salad, sues restaurant
)
Uttarakhand tunnel rescue: Rat-hole miners emerge as 'real heroes', save lives with outlawed technique
)
US military aircraft crashes off Japanese coast with eight onboard
)
SFJ's Pannun takes a u-turn, says never claimed to ‘bomb’ Air India, only ‘boycott’
)
Milwaukee Bucks, Sacramento Kings and Boston Celtics move forward in NBA In-Season Tournament
)
Uttarakhand tunnel rescue: PM Modi expresses joy after successful operation
)
Trapped by poverty, freed by a national ambition — Uttarakhand tunnel rescue sums up India of 2023
)
Uttarakhand tunnel rescue operation: After 17-day ordeal, all 41 workers evacuated safely
)
US chip maker Micron stock dips despite upbeat earnings forecast
The Reserve Bank of India has a mandate to issue banknotes and the banks are fulfilling this mandate by dispensing banknotes to the public through their wide network of branches and ATMs.
In this connection, it said a review of downtime of ATMs due to cash-outs was undertaken and it was observed that ATM operations affected by cash-outs lead to non-availability of cash and cause avoidable inconvenience to the members of the public.
It has, therefore, been decided that the banks/ White Label ATM Operators (WLAOs) will strengthen their systems/ mechanisms to monitor the availability of cash in ATMs and ensure timely replenishment to avoid cash-outs, central bank said.
“Any non-compliance in this regard shall be viewed seriously and shall attract monetary penalty as stipulated in the ‘Scheme of Penalty for non-replenishment of ATMs’,” the RBI said.
The Scheme will be effective from October 01, 2021.
On condition for counting instances of cash-outs in an ATM, the RBI said it would come into play “when the customer is not able to withdraw cash due to non-availability of cash in a particular ATM”.
As regards the quantum of penalty, the central bank said “cash-out at any ATM of more than ten hours in a month” will attract a flat penalty of Rs 10,000 per ATM.
In the case of White Label ATMs (WLAs), the penalty would be charged to the bank, which is meeting the cash requirement of that particular WLA.
The bank, may, at its discretion, recover the penalty from the WLA operator, it added.
At the end-June 2021, there were 2,13,766 ATMs of different banks in the country.
