No, ATMs Won’t Be Shut: Amidst Claims By Industry Body, Government Affirms PSBs Won’t Close ATMs

Union Minister of State for Finance, Shiv Pratap Shukla, told the Parliament that PSBs (Public Sector Banks) would not be shutting down their respective ATMs, reported the Press Trust of India (PTI).

This is in response to a report by an industry body, Confederation of ATM industry (CATMi), that stated that around 1.13 lakh ATMs, were at risk of shutting down by March 2019, due to increased regulatory compliance costs. The new regulations will require the ATM operators to upgrade their hardware and software to improve their security.

“To implement all these security, software-hardware directive would entail an additional cost of minimum Rs 1.5 lakh per ATM per month. This works out to astronomical figures for all the 2.38 lakh ATMs in the country,” CATMi director V Balasubramanian, said. Also, a startup is reported to be working on a solution to allow customers to withdraw money from ATMs through UPI (Unified Payments Interface), rather than swiping their debit cards.

On the other hand, thefts in ATMs are on the rise, at least in some states. According to government reports, over Rs 10 crores have been stolen from ATMs in Gujarat, representing a 1000 per cent increase in the last six years, since 2013.