Reasons why 50% ATMs may shut down by March 2019

New Delhi: The Confederation of ATM Industry (CATMi) has warned that nearly half of the 2.38 lakh machines in the country by March 2019.

A majority of the ATMs which can be shut down will be in the non-urban areas, it said, underlining that this can impact the financial inclusion efforts as beneficiaries use the machines to withdraw government subsidies.

Closure of the ATMs will impact thousands of jobs and also the the financial inclusion efforts of the government, the industry body said in a statement.

Here are the reasons why service providers may be forced to close down almost 1.13 lakh ATMs across the country by March 2019.

• CATMi said that recent regulatory changes, including those on hardware and software upgrades, coupled with mandates on cash management standards may make it unviable to operate ATMs.
• The cassette swap method of loading cash, is also another reason that will make ATM operations unviable, resulting in the closure.
• The new cash logistics and cassette swap method will alone result in costs of Rs 3,000 crore for the industry, it estimated.
• It added that the ATM industry, including managed service providers, brown-label ATM deployers and white label ATM operators (WLAO), is still reeling under the shock of demonetisation.
• The WLAOs have accumulated losses and the compliance costs can result in over 15,000 machines run by them shutting down, the industry body added.