Out of cash: How the ATM ecosystem continues to be mired in a quicksand

The demand for a hike in the interchange hides a bigger mess, reports Raghu Mohan

Your (automated teller machine) ATM withdrawal charges may have been waived for the next three months due to the COVID-19 crisis, but things could change significantly once things return to normalcy. And you may have to shell out Rs 18 every time you pull out cash from the ATM. A year, and more after the outcry over the low interchange at Rs 15, a confidential Mint Road review is said to have plumped for a hike of Rs 3 per swipe. It will not go far.

“Even if it (interchange) were to move up to Rs 18, it will only