1.8 lakh ATMs recalibrated to dispense 500, 2,000 rupee notes
Nearly 90 percent of the two lakh ATMs deployed across the country have been recalibrated to dispense the new Rs 500 and 2,000 rupee notes, says a key maker of the machines even as millions of people continue to face acute cash shortages in the aftermath of demonetisation last month. As per the plan, all the ATMs should have been ready by yesterday.
These machines needed to be recalibrated after the government on November 8 announced the scrapping of old 500 and 1,000 rupee notes in a bid to crack down on black money, and introduced of new 500 and 2,000 rupee notes of different size and high security features. ATM manufacturer NCR Corporation's managing director, (India & South Asia) Navroze Dastur told PTI,
A working group, formed under a RBI-headed task force, was given a deadline to recalibrate all the ATMs by November 30. About 90 percent, which is around 1.8 lakh ATMs, have been recalibrated so far to dispense new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes.
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Following the announcement to scrap old high currency notes, a task force was set up on November 14 under the chairmanship of Reserve Bank deputy governor S S Mundra to oversee the recalibration process of all the ATMs.
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Under the taskforce, a working group was formed that included of representatives of ATMs manufacturers like NCR, Diebold Nixdor, cash-in-transit companies and managed service providers, among others. Dastur said the working group consisted of around 40-60 people and they have been recalibrating on an average 12,000 ATMs per day. He said the rest of the ATMs would be recalibrated over the next 10 days to dispense new notes.
Immediately after the news of demonetisation was out,cash withdrawal limit at ATMs was hiked to Rs 2,500 from earlier Rs 2,000 a day. The weekly limit of Rs 20,000 for withdrawal from bank counters was also increased to Rs 24,000.
