Lok Sabha Question No. 1804 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-03-10
Subject: Automated Teller Machines
Ministry: FINANCE
Asked by: JUGAL KISHORE SHARMA, RAJESHBHAI NARANBHAI CHUDASAMA, RAMDAS CHANDRABHANJI TADAS, K. MARAGATHAM, RAVINDRA KUMAR PANDEY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCIAL SERVICES

## 1804

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No.

TO BE ANSWERED ON 10th MARCH, 2017 (FRIDAYJPHALGUNA 19, 1938 (SAKA)

## Automated Teller Machines

1804. SHRI JUGAL KISHORE:

SHRI RAJESHBHAI CHUDASAMA: SHRIMATI K. MARAGATHAM:

SHRI RAMDAS C. TADAS:

SHRI RAVINDRA KUMAR PANDEY:

Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:

- (b) whether the transactions through ATMs has fallen down considerably and the costs will rise making the ATM business unviable and if so, the details thereof;
- (a) whether the Public/Private Sector Banks proposes to reduce the free withdrawals from Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) to just three and if so, the details thereof; bank-wise;
- (c) whether the Government has framed any policylguidelines for installation of ATMs by the banks and offices in the country and if so, the details thereof; post
- (e) the steps taken/being taken by the Government to extend ATMs facilities in the entire country in this regard particularly in rural areas?
- (d) whether the Government proposes to expand the coverage and facilities of ATMs in rural and backward areas and if SO\_ the details thereof and the number of ATMs installedlfunctioning along with the number of ATMs proposed to be opened during the current year; bank and State/UT-wise; and

## Answer Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance

## The (SHRI SANTOSH KUMAR GANGWAR)

- (a) Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on August 14, 2014 instructed banks to provide a minimum of three free transactions on other bank ATMs every month in six metropolitan centres (Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad & Bengaluru). In other places, a minimum of five free transactions are provided to savings bank accountholders every month on other bank ATMs:

In addition, a minimum of five free ATM transactions every month is provided to all saving bank accountholders of the bank on bank's own The free transactions include financial as well as non-financial ATM transactions. Moreover, this is a minimum cap: Banks may provide more number of free ATM transactions to its saving bank accountholders:

- (b) The number of   transactions in April-June 2016 was 2205.9 million, in  JulySeptember 2016 was 2253.9 million and October-December 2016 was 1995.3 million. The number of ATM transactions has increased except for the quarter ended in December 2016, which was mainly due to the demonetization of Rs. 500/- and Rs. 1000/- with effect from 8.11.2016. However transaction on ATM has further picked up in January, 2017.
- (c) RBI has not issued any instructions to banks regarding the geographical location and number of ATMs. It has, however; conveyed its approval on enabling twoway inter-operability of the ATMs installed by Department of Post (DoP) subject to certain conditions.
- (d) RBI has not issued any instructions to banks regarding the geographical location and number of ATMs\_ Installation of ATM is Banks' decision based on viability: The number of deployment of ATMs is provided at the Annexure.
- (e) RBI has issued instructions on 27 August 2015 to banks to raise the limit for withdrawal at POS (for debit cards and open system prepaid cards issued by banks in India) from Rs.1,000 to Rs. 2,000 per in Tier III to VI centres with immediate effect. In addition to ATMs banks have provided Micro-ATMs to the Bank Mitras working in the rural areas to facilitate banking transaction for rural population. cash day

Table 1: Number of ATMs WLAs installed over the year:

| As on      |   No_ of ATMs of Public Sector Banks | No. of ATMs of Scheduled Commercial Banks   |   No. of WLAs |
|------------|--------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------|---------------|
| 31.3.2016  |                               142459 | 199099                                      |         12962 |
| 30.6.2016  |                               143947 | 201334                                      |         13857 |
| 31.09.2016 |                               145654 | 204218                                      |         14324 |
| 31.12.2016 |                               146891 | 205860#                                     |         13933 |

#out of the total ATMs, 156 ATMs are deployed overseas by State Bank of India

Table 2: Region wise deployment of ATMs for the quarter ended December, 2016

|                           |   Metro | Urban   |   Semi Urban |   Rural |   Total |
|---------------------------|---------|---------|--------------|---------|---------|
| Schedule Commercial Banks |   32804 | 42587   |        41371 |   29973 |  146735 |
| Private Sector Banks      |   24439 |         |        13453 |    4620 |   57999 |
| Foreign Banks             |     724 | 202     |           16 |      28 |     970 |
| Banks                     |   57967 | 58276   |        54840 |   34621 |  205704 |
| WLAs                      |    1897 | 1647    |         4530 |    5859 |   13933 |
| Grand Total               |   59864 | 59923   |        59370 |   40480 |  219637 |

Annexure: