Form October, Banks have to pay monetary penalty for ATM cash-outs
Biznextindia : In view of frequent cash-outs in ATMs, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has directed banks and White Lebel ATM operators to strengthen their systems to monitor availability of cash in ATMs and ensure timely replenishment to avoid cash-outs. RBI has also stated that non-compliance of this directive will attract monetary penalty of Rs. 10,000 per ATM.
The Scheme of penalty for non-replenishment of ATMs will be effective from 1st October, 2021.
“ The Reserve Bank of India has a mandate to issue banknotes and the banks are fulfilling this mandate by dispensing banknotes to the public through their wide network of branches and ATMs. In this connection, 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 has, therefore, been decided that the banks/ White Label ATM Operators (WLAOs) shall strengthen their systems/ mechanisms to monitor availability of cash in ATMs and ensure timely replenishment to avoid cash-outs. Any non-compliance in this regard shall be viewed seriously and shall attract monetary penalty as stipulated in the “Scheme of Penalty for non-replenishment of ATMs”. The Scheme shall be effective from October 01, 2021” said RBI.
According to the scheme, when the customer is not able to withdraw cash due to non-availability of cash in a particular ATM, it would be counted as an instance of cash-out. Cash-out at any ATM of more than ten hours in a month will attract a flat penalty of Rs. 10,000/- per ATM. In case of White Label ATMs (WLAs), the penalty would be charged to the bank which is meeting the cash requirement of that particular WLA. The bank, may, at its discretion, recover the penalty from the WLA operator.