The Hindu Business Line : There’s no one to blame if your ATM hands you a fake note!

You may be shocked to learn this, but there is little you can do. Forget about losing money, you could even be booked for cheating or possessing a counterfeit note. This is what norms of several banks say. And if you are looking for some assurance from the bank, all it may have to say is: “We are doing everything to ensure that fake notes don’t sneak into the ATMs.”

“There is absolutely no defined mechanism to fix the responsibility or to check the veracity of counterfeit note claims from the customers,” a top RBI official from Mumbai told Business Line. Although some cases of ATMs dispensing fake notes had been reported, the banks have no plan of action yet in this regard, he added.

The gravity of the situation can be gauged from the fact that ATMs are rapidly emerging as an alternative to bank branches and currently there are 31,000 ATMs across the country. These ATMs on average register 300 transactions a day.

On the other hand, counterfeiting too has been growing. The number of counterfeit Rs 500 notes had gone up from 12,014 in 2005-06 to 25,636 in 2006-07. With banks seeming unwilling to accept that a fake note could be dispensed through ATMs, there is cause for more worry. “A customer can also be booked for possessing a fake note and trying to circulate it, if a bank vehemently denies the charge,” a senior official of State Bank of Hyderabad said.

“We will never agree that a fake note can be found in cash from any of our ATMs. There are zero per cent chances,” said an ICICI Bank official. When asked about the element of human error and the bank’s likely response if a claim is made, he did not respond.

“We take our own precautions. But if something is suggested or designed, we will be happy to implement,” Mr B. Samba Murthy, CMD, Corporation Bank said.

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