Now Banks to Pay Heavy Fine if ATMs Run Out of Cash

NEW DELHI: In a major relief to the ordinary bank customers, the Reserve Bank of India directed the banks that are under its control, to pay fines if their ATMs run out of cash for more than 10 hours.

As per reports, the RBI has prepared some new guidelines binding the banks that would come into effect from October 1, 2021.

Under the new system, banks will have to submit a statement on the downtime of ATMs on account of cash running out to the RBI within the first five days of every month.

If any bank is found flouting rules, then it must deposit a fine to the central bank.

Sending the customer-centric new directives, the RBI said in a release that a review of downtime of ATMs due to cash-outs was undertaken and it was observed that ATM operations affected by cash-outs lead to non-availability of cash and cause avoidable inconvenience to the members of the public.

It could be noted that almost all the commercial banks of the country including the State Bank of India (SBI) have been imposing various fees and penalties on their customers in lieu of the services they are providing to the customers.

Earlier in June, the central bank announced that banks will be able to raise charges on using ATM machines to Rs 21 per transaction from January 1, 2022. It was Rs 20 per transaction earlier.

Customers are still allowed five free transactions, including financial and non-financial, on a monthly basis from their own bank ATMs. They are also eligible for three free transactions from other bank ATMs in metro cities and five in non-metro centers.

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