Using ATMs beyond the permissible free transactions for cash as well as non-cash purposes will cost more from Saturday.
As per the Reserve Bank directive issued in June, the banking customers would be required to pay Rs 21 per transaction with effect from January 1, 2022 for transactions beyond the free permissible limit. Presently, banks are allowed to charge Rs 20 for such transactions through ATMs.
Customers would, however, continue to be eligible for five free transactions (inclusive of financial and non-financial transactions) every month from their own bank ATMs. They would also be eligible for three free transactions from other bank ATMs in metro centres and five in non-metro centres.
The RBI had earlier allowed banks to increase interchange fee per transaction from Rs 15 to Rs 17 for financial transactions and from Rs 5 to Rs 6 for non-financial transactions in all centres with effect from August 1, 2021.
The charges have been increased to meet the increasing cost of ATM deployment and expenses towards ATM maintenance incurred by banks/white label ATM operators, as also considering the need to balance expectations of stakeholder entities and customer convenience.
It may be noted here that the central bank had set up a committee in June 2019 under the Chairmanship of the Chief Executive, Indian Banks' Association to review the entire gamut of Automated Teller Machine (ATM) charges and fees with particular focus on interchange structure for ATM transactions.
There were 1,15,605 onsite ATMs and 97,970 off-site automated teller machines as on March 31, 2021. About 90 crore debit cards issued by different banks were outstanding at end-March 2021.
The first ATM in India was set up in 1987 by HSBC in Mumbai. In the following twelve years, about 1,500 ATMs were set up in India. In 1997, the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) set up Swadhan, the first network of shared ATMs which allowed interoperable transactions.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU