ATM cash withdrawal limit eased further

Withdrawal cap on current, cash credit and overdraft accounts lifted with immediate effect

Facing criticism from the Election Commission (EC) for not allowing candidates contesting the coming Assembly polls to withdraw cash up to their legal limit, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday removed withdrawal restrictions on current, cash credit and overdraft accounts with immediate effect.

ATM withdrawal restrictions will also be eased from Wednesday, RBI said. A savings account holder may now withdraw up to Rs 24,000 at one go from ATMs. Earlier, the limit on such accounts was Rs 10,000 per day, with a weekly cap of Rs 24,000.

The overall limit on savings accounts will, however, continue. The cap for savings account holders is Rs 24,000 per week.“The limits on saving bank accounts will continue for the present and are under consideration for withdrawal in the near future,” RBI added.

RBI also said banks may, at their discretion, have their own operating limits as was the case before November 8, when note ban was imposed.

The reason behind the move was the “pace of remonetisation,” or the pace at which new notes have replaced the scrapped high-value notes, said the central bank.

Following demonetisation, RBI had put a withdrawal limit of Rs 2,000 per day from ATMs and Rs 10,000 per week. Customers holding a current or overdraft or cash credit accounts were allowed to withdraw up to Rs 50,000 in a week.

Towards November end, RBI increased the caps on savings bank withdrawals to Rs 24,000 a week.

In January, it was further relaxed to Rs 4,500 per day from ATMs, but the weekly withdrawal limits remained. On January 16, RBI enhanced ATM withdrawals further to Rs 10,000 daily, while keeping the weekly limits at Rs 24,000.

The central bank had also enhanced the limit on withdrawal from current accounts, overdraft and cash credit accounts to Rs 1,00,000 per week.