ATMs start dispensing cash but expect some glitches

ATMs have started working again and the banks are doing everything they can do minimise the inconvenience to people.

The ATM machines were closed for a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi scrapped Rs 500/Rs1000 currency notes in an effort to clampdown on black money.

The exercise to replenish the ATMS with Rs 100 and new Rs 500 and Rs 2000 notes was enormous and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) along with the National Payments Corporation of India, Cash Logistics Association of India and Confederation of ATM Industries executed the mammoth task of replenishing around Rs 16 lakh crore of currency notes.

However, some glitches are expected as ATMs are now full with Rs 100 notes.

"We expect the pain for the public to remain for at least the next 10 days as putting that many Rs 100 denomination notes in such a short period of time is going to be a huge logistical nightmare for the entire banking industry," Navroze Dastur, managing director for India and South Asia at NCR Corporation, which manufactures automated teller machines, told ET.

Initially, you will be able to withdraw Rs 2,000 per day per card and it will be raised to Rs 4,000 later.

“Usually, an ATM is stacked with cash amounting to Rs 15-20 lakh, but in the revised scheme of things when only Rs 100 denomination notes will be dispensed, the maximum that an ATM can carry is Rs 4 lakh," Rupinder Anand, chief executive officer at OKI India, which manufactures and runs ATMs in the country, told ET.

In this backdrop, ATMs will run out of cash faster than usual.

"We will deploy our entire staff strength over the next few days to stuff ATMs with cash. The entire fleof 8,800 cash replenishing vehicles with 35,000 staff will be on duty for the next few days to achieve the task. They will be working across shifts and all their leaves have been cancelled," Rituraj Sinha, president of Cash Logistics Association of India, told ET.