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ATM cash withdrawal fee to pinch more from August 1
Customers can claim free transactions from ATMs of other banks, too, which include three withdrawals in metros and five in non-metro cities.
Starting August 1, the interchange fee that banks can charge on Automated Teller Machines (ATM) will see an increase of ₹2 following the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) order. In June, the central bank raised the interchange fee from ₹15 to ₹17, while for non-financial transactions the fee has been raised from ₹5 to ₹6.
The fee is charged by banks to merchants processing payments through credit card or debit cards. As per the revised rules, the customers will be eligible for five free transactions every month from their home bank ATMs.
Customers can claim free transactions from ATMs of other banks, too, which include three withdrawals in metros and five in non-metro cities.
The changes were announced on the basis of the suggestions of a committee set up by the RBI in June 2019. It was set up under the chairmanship of the chief executive of the Indian Banks’ Association to review the entire gamut of ATM charges and fees with a particular focus on interchange structure for ATM transactions.
The central bank had said these charges were allowed to be hiked owing to the increasing cost of ATM deployment and expenses towards the maintenance of ATM that banks incur. News agency PTI reported that as of March 31, there are 115,605 onsite ATMs and 97,970 off-site teller machines in the country and around 900 million debit cards issued by different banks.
