Out of 2 lakh ATM machines, only 85,000 functional on Friday

New Delhi: There are about two lakh, twenty thousand ATMs in India. Out of which only 85,000 were working on the Friday. This led to a sweeping cash crunch and inconveniences for the common man.

• Cash chaos played out everywhere as only 40% ATMs in the country were operational on Friday. ATMs all over the country remain shut for two days following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of the demonetisation of higher currency notes to fight the menace of black money.
• Some ATM machines continued to dispense old and lower denomination currency notes. Out of which, 90 percent have already been withdrawn by people. People have been in a state of panic ever since Rs.500 and Rs.1000 notes ceased to be legal tender. Thus, the reopening of ATM centres saw thousands of anxious people queuing up since the morning on Friday. However, many had to go back empty-handed as the machines either ran out of cash or were inactive.
• This was despite the government’s assurance that the ATM machines would dispense a maximum limit of Rs. 2,000 per day through a single card till November 18. Thereafter, the limit will be increased to Rs. 4,000 per day.
• The banks continue to replace old currency notes with new and lower denomination notes. Around 40,000 people are on the task and to make life simpler for the people. But the enormity of the exercise is expected to cause people trouble for at least ten days.

Inactive ATM machines due to technical problems Some technical problems have also been detected in the working of ATM machines.

• Apparently, every machine has got frames inside it. The money that a machine dispenses is kept inside the frame which is a rack sort of a thing.
• Notes of one particular denomination are placed in one frame and the other in another frame. Which means, that currency notes of Rs.1000 will not be placed in the same frame as the currency notes of Rs.500.
• Sensors that recognize the notes are placed inside the frames. It’s only because of this recognition by the sensors, that only the desired amount of money by a person is dispensed by the ATM machine. This is where the technical issue comes in.
• ATM machines all over the country are old machines with old sensors placed inside them; sensors that have been programmed to recognize only the old Rs.100, Rs.500 and Rs.1000 notes. This is why machines were unable to dispense new currency notes.

In such a scenario, what was required was a change in the programming of ATM machines all over India. But for obvious reasons, that couldn’t be done within a short span of 48 hours. The decision of demonetization has been given a thumbs-up by many but some also feel that the implementation could have been handled better.