Agencies, June 11. If you are a bank customer then this news is for you. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has changed the rules related to ATM transactions. The RBI has approved banks to increase financial-non-financial ATM transaction fees. The RBI has given this information by issuing a statement.
Cash withdrawal after free transaction will cost Rs 21
The RBI has approved to increase the charge on cash withdrawals after free transactions. Banks currently charge customers Rs 20 per transaction. It does not include taxes. The RBI has said that due to higher interchange fees, banks will be able to increase the charges levied on customers after free transactions to offset the cost. According to the RBI, after the free transaction, banks will be able to charge their customers Rs 21 per transaction instead of Rs 20. It does not include taxes. This rule will come into force from January 1, 2022. Charges for cash withdrawals from ATMs have been increased after about 7 years.
Interchange charge increased from Rs 15 to Rs 17
The RBI has also approved an increase in interchange charges related to ATM transactions. Now all banks will be able to increase the interchange charge of their ATM transactions. After this change, banks will be able to increase the non-financial transaction charge from Rs 5 to Rs 6 and the financial transaction charge from Rs 15 to Rs 17. However, interchange charges are not levied on customers. The rules related to interchange transactions have changed after 9 years. These new rules will come into effect from August 1, 2021.
Customers will continue to receive free transactions
The RBI has said that even after the change in the rules, customers will continue to get the facility of 5 free transactions at their bank’s ATMs. This includes both financial and non-financial transactions. Apart from this, bank customers will also get the facility of free transaction at other bank’s ATMs. At present, bank customers get 3 transactions free in metro cities and 5 transaction free in non-metro cities at other bank’s ATMs.
In 2012, the rules related to interchange charge were changed
Earlier, the RBI had in 2012 changed the rules relating to interchange charges for ATM transactions. While the ATM transaction charge charged from customers was changed in August 2014. The RBI had constituted a committee in June 2019 to look into the charges related to ATM transactions. Based on the recommendations of this committee, it has been approved to increase the ATM transaction charge.
Number of ATMs in the country
As on March 31, 2021, the number of onsite ATMs in the country was 1,15,605. The number of off-site ATMs was 97,970. As on March 31, 2021, around 90 crore ATM cards of all banks in the country were in circulation. HSBC Bank had installed the first ATM in the country in 1987 in Mumbai. After this, in the next 12 years, the number of ATMs in the country had increased to 1500.
