RBI Committee recommends limiting ATM cash withdrawals to Rs, 5000

A committee appointed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), headed by chief executive of Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and consisting of representatives from all stakeholders, except bank customers, has recommended an increase in interchange charges for all transactions carried out on automated teller machines (ATMs) across the country.

The committee also wants to cap cash withdrawal limit at Rs5,000 per transaction and levy charges for any larger amount. In fact, the committee’s report was also kept out of public domain by RBI, till Hyderabad-based techie Srikanth L filed an appeal under the Right to Information (RTI) Act to get a copy of the report.

The committee, which was appointed last year to review ATM inter-change fee structure, did submit its recommendations to the central bank, but it is not known whether the RBI has accepted them.

According to a report in Moneylife the committee recommended an increase of 16 percent, or Rs 2, to Rs 17 for financial transactions and to Rs 7 from Rs 5 for non-financial transactions at ATMs in all centres with a population of one million and above.

For usage in ATMs at other centres, with a population less than one million, the committee recommended charges to be increased to 24 percent on a blended basis.

It also observed the cost-effectiveness of ATMs as compared to in-branch transactions.

"Due to the convenience of usage of ATMs, the number of withdrawal transactions at ATMs per customer is higher as compared to that at the branch, hence the comparison of a cost of single ATM transactions with single branch transaction may not be appropriate," the report stated.

Due to the lockdown and coronavirus crisis, the rules for withdrawing money from ATMs will change from July 1. This will put extra burden on the customer's pocket.

From July 1, it will be more expensive to withdraw cash from ATMs. The Finance Ministry had waived all transaction charges for cash withdrawals from ATMs for three months.

Considering the health crisis, the finance ministry had given relief to the public by removing the charges on ATM transactions. The decision was made for three months which ends on June 30.