Banks To Pay Fines If ATMs Run Out Of Cash From October: RBI

Under the scheme, a penalty of Rs 10,000 per ATM will be levied if they are out of cash for more than 10 hours per month.

ATM dispensing cash | File Image

New Delhi: There may have been instances when you are in need of money but came out of the ATM without any cash because it has run of banknotes. In order to deal with this issue, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has directed all the banks and White Label ATM Operators (WLAOs), those owned and operated by non-bank entities, to ensure that ATMs never run out of cash.

RBI's Directions To Banks

The newly launched initiative under the ‘Scheme of Penalty for non-replenishment of ATMs’, will come into effect in October. Starting October 1, 2021, banks will be liable to pay a fine to the RBI in case they fail to monitor the availability of cash in ATMs. RBI also asked the banks to ensure there are no cash-out situations.

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Why The New Scheme

The main objective behind the scheme is to ensure that sufficient cash is available for the public through ATMs. Sharing the reasons behind the new rule, the RBI said in a statement: “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.”

The statement also added: “Therefore, been decided that the banks/WLAOs shall strengthen their systems/mechanisms to monitor the 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 a monetary penalty.”

Penalty To Be Levied

In cash-out of more than 10 hours in a month at any ATM will attract a flat penalty of Rs10,000. In the case of White Label ATMs (WLAs), the penalty would be charged to the bank which is meeting the cash requirement of that particular WLA.