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The Reserve Bank of India has asked banks and White Label ATM Operators (WLAOs) to strengthen their systems to monitor availability of cash in ATMs and ensure timely replenishment to avoid cash-outs, failing which monetary penalty will be imposed on them.
‘Scheme of penalty’
In this regard, RBI has come out with a “Scheme of Penalty for non-replenishment of ATMs”, which will be effective from October 1, 2021. Cash-out (when the customer is not able to withdraw cash due to non-availability of cash in a particular ATM) at any ATM of more than ten hours in a month will attract a flat penalty of ₹10,000 per ATM.
In case of White Label ATMs (WLAs), the penalty would be charged to the bank which is meeting the cash requirement of that particular WLA. The bank may, at its discretion, recover the penalty from the WLA operator.
The scheme has been formulated following a review of downtime of ATMs due to cash-outs. RBI said 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. RBI said, Banks have to submit system generated statement on downtime of ATMs due to non-replenishment of cash to the Issue Department of RBI under whose jurisdiction these ATMs are located.
In the case of WLAOs, the banks which are meeting their cash requirement will furnish a separate statement on behalf of WLAOs on cash-out of such ATMs due to non-replenishment of cash.
As the intention of the Scheme is to ensure replenishment of ATMs in time, RBI said appeals would be considered only in cases of genuine reasons beyond the control of bank/ WLAOs such as, imposition of lockdown by the State/ Administrative authorities, strike, etc.
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