New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India has discovered that over one-third or 33 per cent of total installed ATMs across India do not function. The information was given out by Reserve Bank deputy governor S S Mundra who raised concerns over the matter and warned banks to take care of the situation, ordering a quick fix.
Addressing a gathering at a banking event, Mundra said that a survey was conducted by the Reserve Bank team at 4000 ATMs revealed that almost one-third of these machines are not in working conditions. The survey was conducted in various parts of the country at various banks.
"Our teams had recently undertaken a survey of almost 4,000 ATMs across the country with a sample fairly representing geographical and bank categories. One third were found not working. We will be taking necessary supervisory action soon," he said, adding that several ATMs do not provide access for the disabled and are "customer unfriendly".
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Mundra further said that the government and RBI have taken financial inclusion as one of their top agendas and ATMs are one of the ways to attain that objective. As per RBI data, 56 commercial banks together had 1,00,671 on-site cash vending machines and 96,656 offsite machines as of February this year.
Among other measures that the government and the RBI, Mundra offered some reprieve for customers and said that RBI is looking at whether to introduce new rules that would limit their liability in cases of online financial fraud.
“It is imperative to have a robust mechanism to prevent incidents of fraud in mobile/net banking to retain customer confidence," said the Deputy Governor of the RBI. In effect, the RBI is working on a mechanism that would limit the liability of a customer in case his/her credit card is stolen and used, or money is withdrawn from the account through a duplicate ATM card.
