Why Are ATMs Running Out of Cash? No, It Isn’t Only High Demand
Post demonetisation, instead of bringing respite to the people, ATMs have added to their woes.
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The government’s “surgical strike” on black money has lead to massive public inconvenience. The banks and ATMs are struggling to cope with the situation.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that 4000 currency chests across the country have enough stock of cash. Then where is the problem?
The Quint visited SIS Cash Services, the cash logistics service provider to Delhi, NCR. “ “ATM has four drawers or cassettes -- one for Rs 100 and Rs 1000 each and two for Rs 500. The ban on 500 and 1000 rupee notes has left three of these ATM drawers useless. The ATM cassettes have to be recalibrated to dispense the new 500 and 2,000 rupee notes. Till then, there is going to be pressure on the Rs 100 slot.
A cassette can hold upto 2,500 currency notes. The ban has reduced an ATM’s capacity from 40 lakhs to 2.5 lakhs. No wonder the cash from the ATMs is finished within a few hours.
There are over 2,20,000 ATMs in our country. According to our Finance Minister, recalibrating ATMs for new currency notes will take two-three weeks. Till then, people have no option but to face the cash crunch.
Video Editor: Sandeep Suman
Camera: Abhay Sharma
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