SBI proposes hike in PoS cash withdrawal limit

BHUBANESWAR:  The State Bank of India has proposed Reserve Bank of India to raise daily withdrawal limit from point-of-sale (POS) machines to tide over cash crunch during crisis like natural calamities.Managing Director (Retail and Digital Banking) of the bank, PK Gupta said the RBI has been urged to increase the daily withdrawal limits from `2,000 to `5,000 per transaction from merchant outlets having POS machines.

“The POS machines came to rescue for many when ATMs went out of order due to power outages and snapping of telecommunication post cyclone Fani. Oil companies and other merchant outlets were roped in to meet the cash requirements. The withdrawal limit for smaller towns at present is `2,000,” he said.
The POS machine cash withdrawal facility enables a debit card holder withdraw cash from merchants. It also helps merchants to manage cash as they will not have to visit bank to deposit their collections. Presently, SBI does not charge for one transaction.

As per the RBI decision, Gupta said there is a 12-month moratorium in existing term loans for repayment of principal and interest in the cyclone-affected areas. Restructuring of loans is also being done accordingly.“Affected MSMEs, farmers and other term loans including housing can avail the moratorium period of one year. Only loanees affected in cyclone will get the relief and not all who belong to the affected districts,” he clarified.

On RBI slashing repo rate, Gupta said the Assets Liability Committee (Aalo) will soon meet and decide on the interest rate action on customers.Chief General Manager Praveena Kala said SBI has disbursed `120 crore loans, including `98 crore in agriculture sector, `15 crore to small and medium enterprises and rest to housing sector in the cyclone affected districts. This apart, `5 crore has been disbursed among fishermen and SBI has provided 1300 loans to SHGs and over 8000 agri loan plus Prime Minister Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) and Mudra loans, she added.