Fifty percent ATMs may shut down by next year
Posted on: 22/Nov/2018 3:23:23 PM
A recent report confirms the probable shut down of fifty percent ATMs across the nation owing to the unavailability of operations. By the end of March 2019 many ATMs all around India may find a closure that may lead to lots of chaos among public rights to obtain their hard earned money from respective automated teller machine outlets.
The Confederation of ATM Industry (CATMi) informed on Wednesday about the negative impact of digitization leading to financial imbalance in the distribution of currency all over the nation. India is operating more than 238,000 ATMs dealt with public and private banks. Among this 113,000 ATMs are expected to shut down next year that includes 100,000 off site machine outlets and 15,000 white label ATMs said the sources from CATMi.
The closure of ATMs would severely disturb the livelihood of beneficiaries and also the account holders of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana who constantly withdraw money from ATMs in both urban and rural regions of the country. Another big chaos after demonetization is expected out of this ATM closures in India. Cash loading and cash management in ATMs cannot move on with ease owing to the recent mandates and standards of the central government in terms of banking. The central government promotes cashless transaction in spite of rural population entirely dependent on the hard cash flow for their economy flourishment and income.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposes strict guidelines for ATM providers and contractors as per the rules of Union Ministry of Home Affairs implemented by February 9. A minimum requirement of Rs 100 crore net worth and 300 fully equipped cash vans with minimum fleet size are the primary mandates of the central body. Two custodians and two armed guards with a driver, GPS-CCTV monitoring of entire cash management and also the upgradation of software from Windows XP to Windows 10. An additional cost of Rs. 150,000 per ATM per month would be required to implement these guidelines. The strict guidelines and regulations forcing all the ATM providers to back up many of their centers.
According to the updates of ATM providers the shut-down of ATMs will start from the month of January. On the contrary more number of ATMS are required to meet the large cash flow in the Country. Now the shut-down spree may create hindrance for majority of semi urban and rural population. As 30 percent of the bank account holders use ATMs for regular transaction of money the cashless economic move may go haywire in coming years as confirmed by many experts of finance.
