Govt rubbishes report about PSBs shutting down ATMs for regulatory reasons

The CATMi report said that nearly half of the 238,000 machines run the risk of closing down by March next year due to regulatory compliance changes making the business unviable

Public Sector Banks (PSBs) do not have any plans to shut down their ATMs, Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla informed Parliament.

The statement assumes significance amidst a report by the Confederation of ATM industry (CATMi) warning that nearly half of the 238,000 machines run the risk of closing down by March next year due to regulatory compliance changes making the business unviable due to rising costs and dipping or stagnant revenues.

As reported by the scheduled commercial banks, small finance banks, payment banks and white label ATM operators, 221,000 ATMs are deployed in the country as on September 30, Shukla said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

Apart from ATMs, banking services across the country are provided through bank branches, inter-operable business correspondents (BCs) with micro-ATMs etc, he said.

Further, he said, mobile banking services and various digital modes of banking facilities are also available in India.

Replying to another question, Shukla said the government announced recapitalisation of PSBs to the tune of Rs 2.11 trillion in October 2017, through infusion of capital by the government and raising of capital by banks from the markets.

PSBs meet their capital requirement through various sources including, inter alia, mobilisation of capital from the market through issuance of capital instruments and monetisation of non-core assets, internal capital generation including through recovery in written-off accounts, and capital infusion by the government.

"Rs 88,139 crore was infused by the government in PSBs during financial year 2017-18 after the recapitalisation announcement and provision of Rs 65,000 crore has been made in the budget for the current financial year for infusion," he said.

Since the recapitalisation announcement till November 2018, PSBs have been recapitalised to the tune of Rs 1.28 trillion through infusion and mobilisation of capital from the market, he said.