Delay in calibrating ATMs for Rs 200 note, say banks, cash situation easing now

Officials said that re-calibration of ATMs to fit Rs 200 notes has been slow due to inadequate supply of these newly introduced notes.

The availability of cash has improved since Tuesday, bankers said. (Express photo by Abhinav Saha)

In the first three months of calendar year 2018, the frequency and the ticket size of transactions at Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) across the country, on an average, has gone up by 10 per cent, according to cash logistics firms and ATM service providers in India, leading to a currency crunch in many states. The availability of cash has improved since Tuesday, bankers said.

Officials of firms that manage services across 2.21 lakh ATMs in the country also said that the current cash crunch in a few states could largely be due to a decline in “cash velocity” in those states leading to “an artificial shortage of cash”. The low cash velocity, officials said, is also triggered by less supply of currency notes of lower denomination.

Officials said that re-calibration of ATMs to fit Rs 200 notes has been slow due to inadequate supply of these newly introduced notes.

Story continues below this ad

Read | Behind shortage of cash, circulation of Rs 200 fast, Rs 2,000 slow: SBI report

“During demonetisation, the banks, cash logistics industry, managed service providers and the Reserve Bank of India worked together to ramp up the re-calibration of ATMs to fit new notes. But now the decision to re-calibrate the ATMs to fit the Rs 200 notes lies with banks. And the banks are re-calibrating the ATMs only if they are sure of adequate supply of these notes otherwise they run a risk of having empty cassettes in ATMs. As a result the re-calibration of the ATMs has not been completed even after three months of introducing it in the system,” said Navroz Dastur, managing director, NCR Corporation, India & South Asia, a leading ATM service provider.

Rituraj Sinha, president of Cash Logistics Association of India, said that the cash logistics industry is working with banks and has increased the frequency of replenishment of ATMs in certain regions of the country that are facing a shortage.

Bankers said currency availability has improved in regions which were facing acute shortage in the last few days with more cash being rushed to those areas, senior bankers said.

Story continues below this ad

Said Rajeev Rishi, Chairman and MD of Central Bank of India: “Almost 90 per cent of our ATMs are functioning now. The situation has improved. We expect complete normalcy in a few days. Except for some 6-7 per cent of ATMs which are non-functional due to technical problems, rest of the ATMs will soon be functioning.”

EXPLAINED | No cash in ATMs: Why is there a shortage? What happens next?

Neeraj Vyas, Deputy Managing Director and COO, State Bank of India, said: “Availability of cash in SBI ATMs has improved in the last 24 hours. Efforts are being made on a continuous basis to improve cash availability in a few geographies. Overall, the issue of less should come to normalcy within the soonest possible time. We are constantly monitoring the situation and making immense efforts to ensure the supply of currency at all our ATMs.”