SBI says cash situation in its ATMs is improving

A man shows a “no cash” slip near SBI ATMs in Patna on April 17, 2018. Most of the ATMs have run out of cash in the city.

A man shows a “no cash” slip near SBI ATMs in Patna on April 17, 2018. Most of the ATMs have run out of cash in the city.   | Photo Credit: PTI

The statement comes amid reports of cash crunch in some parts of the country with ATMs running dry.

State Bank of India has said the cash situation in its automated teller machines (ATMs) is improving and steps are taken on a continuous basis to improve the situation.

The statement comes amid reports of cash crunch in some parts of the country with ATMs running dry. The ATM manufacturers blamed banks for the situation, saying lenders are not meeting the cash requirement of ATMs.

“Availability of cash in SBI ATMs has improved in the last 24 hours. Efforts are being made on a continuous basis to improve the cash availability further in a few geographies,” said Neeraj Vyas, DMD (Chief Operating Officer) of SBI, in a statement.

“Overall issue of less cash should come to normalcy within soonest possible time. We are constantly monitoring the situation and making immense efforts to ensure the supply of currency in abundance at all our ATMs,” he added.

The SBI has close to 60,000 ATMs of the two lakh ATMs in the country.

Rise in ATM withdrawals

A SBI report released on Wednesday said that during FY18, ATM withdrawals increased by 12.2% in H2 compared to H1. This growth was much higher compared to FY16 or FY15 and even the 5-year average (8.2% during FY12 to FY16).

“Cash withdrawals in H2 are always more than the H1 due to many reasons like festival and procurement season that fall in H2 but in FY18 such a large increase is still not self explanatory,” the report said.