The introduction of the new ₹200 notes will cost dearly to Mumbaikars. While the newly issued currency is not yet available everywhere, it is estimated that an average of 243 days are required for the ATMs to be recalibrated for these notes.
The two largest ATM manufacturing companies in Mumbai — AGS Transact Technologies and NCR Corporation India — together account for 10,500 ATMs across the Thane, Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, of which 8,750 are yet to be equipped with the new currency note.
The calibration activity requires an engineer to visit each ATM along with the cash-in-transit company. It takes about 40 minutes to an hour to recalibrate one ATM and reconfigure its software. During this time, a customer cannot use the machine for transactions. The banks may not decide to recalibrate all the ATMs. 450-500 units have been recalibrated in Mumbai so far.
The remaining ATMs will be reconfigured within the next 30-45 days
There will be no hold-up for the ₹200 notes, unlike during the times of demonetisation when it took close to 60 days to recalibrate all ATMs while they were non-operational during all that time. The customers will still be able to operate the ATMs and the machine will only remain out of service for a span of 40 minutes.
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