HYDERABAD: With the Central government’s decision to reduce the present currency circulation by around 70 pc most of the ATMs in the state are likely to be shutdown permanently.
“Though the banking sources did not issue any official circulars so far for the closure of ATMs, there is every possibility that several ATMs will close down permanently,” a bank employee said on condition of anonymity. With every smart mobile being turned into a mobile bank, the bankers’ next step will be closure of ATMs.
The reason for the likely closure of ATMs is that the currency circulation would come down and there would be no use of so many ATMs. According to sources in finance department, the money circulation in the state was Rs 70,000 crore before demonetisation.
“The state received only half of it back in the form of deposits so far,” an official said. Secondly, the state government would insist on digital payments in all government transactions and hence there would be no need for public to draw huge amounts.
“On each ATM, banks pay a monthly rent of Rs 8,000 to Rs 25,000 depending on the location. Some ATMs have three security personnel whose monthly salary comes around Rs 24,000. Once, the off-site ATMs are closed by the banks, they will save around Rs 40,000 per month on each ATM,” sources explained.
“We have five on-site ATMs. But, they are not functioning now. There is no hope that the off-site ATMs will function in future,” a senior employee of a nationalised bank said. “The bankers are hesitating to declare the closure of ATMs now as they will face stiff resistance from the public. Most of the ATMs will vanish,” said a senior official of finance department.
ATMs India connect
The first ATM was introduced in the country in 1987 by Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. Now, the long saga of ATMs is likely to over. Most of the ATMs will be closed down, once the mobiles become banks. The future is that around 50 pc of the ATMs would be closed. According to RBI statistics, there are 10,036 ATMs of all nationalised and private banks in the state.
State gets Rs 100 cr worth Rs 500 notes
Hyderabad: All the new notes received from the Reserve Bank of India by the state government will be moved to districts to meet Aasara pension and other needs. The state government on Tuesday received Rs 100 crore worth Rs 500 notes. “We will receive another Rs 1,000 crore worth Rs 500 and other small denomination notes in next three to four days,’’ said an official in the finance department. The state has so far received Rs 15,000 crore worth notes with denominations ranging from Rs 2,000 to Rs 50. On December 2, it received Rs 1,800 crore worth notes of which Rs 1,100 crore notes were dispatched to districts. On Monday, the state received Rs 1,024 crore. “We will send these notes to rural areas,” an official said. According to information, the country requires Rs 2,000 crore notes of all denominations. But, the security printing press is able to print only Rs 300 crore worth notes in a month.
CM exhorts people to take up online transactions
Hyderabad: Telangana State for the past five days has been registering the highest number of financial transactions digitally on a daily basis and stood first in the country. This was disclosed by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. Rao on Tuesday said that people should be educated on Electronic Financial Literacy as technology was playing a major role in day-to-day life. “The time has come for the people to be aware about the electronic transactions but it people will take time to to get used to banking transactions overnight,” he said. The digital transfer of money, post demonetisation, has become a necessity, he said. Rao interacted with senior officials from the ICIC Bank at Pragathi Bhavan on Tuesday who offered the bank’s services to people on the digital platform. Rao said all the financial transactions should be done through Unified Payment Interface (UPI) system.