The State Bank of India (SBI), India's largest lender, has halted the operation of its ATMs in Tamil Nadu after a two-member gang exploited technical flaws and stole at least Rs 48 lakh.

Customers of SBI are unable to withdraw funds from ATMs because the bank's management decided to halt ATM operations as a precautionary measure.

The Mumbai-based bank has put posters at ATM locations informing customers that the cash withdrawal facility in recyclers, i.e., cash deposit machines (CDM), had been temporarily disabled due to a technical error.

"A select category of ATMs has been temporarily disabled in Tamil Nadu," a source in the know of the development told ABP News. The fraudulent withdrawals occurred between June 17 and 18 from SBI's automated cash deposit-withdrawal machines.

The bank has close to 60,000 ATMs across the country, but the cash withdrawals were restricted to select ATMs in Tamil Nadu.