Customers will be hit as ATM service providers are planning to increase interchange fees by ₹5. Currently, all banks charge a fee of ₹15 and ₹5 for all non-cash transactions to a customer of another lender. Henceforth, the customer will end up paying ₹20.
On April 6, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a circular, on the basis of which the ATM operators are now demanding higher interchange fees for ATM transactions.
The RBI circular specified requirements such as the provider should have a minimum fleet of 300 specifically fabricated cash vans with two custodians and two armed security guards, besides the driver. And each cash van should be GPS-enabled and monitored live with the additional indication of the nearest police station in case of an emergency.
On Wednesday, the Confederation of ATM Industry (CATMi) asked banks and the regulator to consider increased interchange rates adding that the RBI directive is expected to push up their costs.
RBI circular also mentioned that the banks should consider using lockable cassettes in their ATMs which shall be swapped at the time of cash replenishment. But the service providers are seeing it as a massive investment they will have to make with additional cassettes available for all ATMs.
It is being said that the fee hike will begin from July as RBI's new guidelines will be implemented in the same month.
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