RBI has hiked ATM transaction charges beyond permissible limit with effect from January 1, 2022
ATM transactions costs are set to go up from January 1 next year, thanks to a Reserve Bank notification. Currently banks charge Rs 20 plus GST on every transaction beyond permissible limit of free transactions which are five for home ATMs and three for ATMs of other banks in a month.
But there are still some banks in the country that are offering unlimited free ATM transactions to their customers. They are not charged any transaction charges even beyond the permissible limit.
IndusInd bank
One of the fastest growing private banks, IndusInd Bank, offers unlimited free ATM transactions at any bank ATM in India to its customers. “Unlimited Free ATM Withdrawal with your IndusInd Bank Debit Card across any ATM in India,” the bank’s website says.
Neither the customers have to pay any extra amount, nor is any amount deducted from the account of the customer, the bank said.
IDBI Bank
If you’re an IDBI customer or planning to open an account with the bank, you may note that this bank too offers free unlimited transactions at its own ATMs and five free transactions at other ATMs weather it is in metro or non-Metro cities in a month.
Citi bank
Though Citibank is wrapping up its retail banking business in India soon, it is also offering unlimited free ATM transactions to its customers at both home and away ATMs.
Currently, most of the private and public banks in India allow three to five free ATM transactions in urban cities and towns. In rural areas, however, private and public banks allow up to five free ATM transactions for both type of ATMs (home and other banks).
ATM statistics
The fees currently charged by the bank beyond the free limit on cash withdrawal is Rs 20 plus GST, which has been hiked to Rs 21 plus GST, effective from January 1, 2022.
At the end of October last year, the total number of ATMs in India stood at 2,34,244, marginally down from 2,34,357 in March 2020, according to RBI data. The ATM industry has witnessed reduced growth at 7-9% since 2016, after growing annually at about 14% between 2012 and 2016.
But 2020 is probably the first year where number of ATM has gone down as the number of online transactions grew sharply year-on-year, feel experts.
Most of the scheduled commercial banks and independent ATM operators—called white-label ATM operators or WLAOs—have reduced the number of ATMs operated by them gradually over the last two years, a report said.
