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50 per cent ATMs across India may shut down by March 2019, warns CATMi

News Nation Bureau | Edited By : Assem Sharma | Updated on: 22 Nov 2018, 12:22:35 AM
Half of India's ATM may shut down by March 2019 (Representational Image)

New Delhi:

Almost 50 per cent of the Automated Teller Machines, popularly known as ATMs may work by March next year because of unviability of operations brought by recent regulatory guidelines, leading to affect both urban and rural population at large, Confederation of ATM Industry (CATMi) said on Wednesday. 

As per the latest report, the total number of ATMs currently installed is approximately 238,000 out of which 100,000 ATMs are expected to get shut down by March. 

The CATMi spokesperson said, "This would severely impact millions of beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana who withdraw subsidies in the form of cash through ATMs, besides urban centres, resulting in snaky queues and chaos akin to post-demonetisation."

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"The situation has further deteriorated now due to the additional compliance requirements that call for a huge cost outlay. The service providers do not have the financial means to meet such massive costs and may be forced to shut down these ATMs unless banks step in to bear the load of the additional cost of compliances," he further added.

He also said that the forced closure of ATMs by service providers came after the recent regulatory guidelines for the machine's hardware and software upgrades, recent mandates on cash management standards and the Cassette Swap method of loading cash.

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First Published : 21 Nov 2018, 05:36:09 PM

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