ATM operators complained that the Reserve Bank was also not supplying the newly
introduced Rs 200 notes to meet the demand.
RBI data showed that currency with the public has been on a steady rise and stood at Rs 17.5 lakh crore at the end of March 2018 against Rs 14.9 lakh crore at the end of September 2017. While it may be near pre-demonetisation levels, if economic growth is factored in, it is still short of what the system needed.
“Cash crunch is across the board for all banks, this is a demandsupply issue,” said Navroze Dastur, managing director, NCR Corporation.
“Earlier, the crunch was only in a few states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka but we are also seeing similar issues coming in from other states now. We are seeing a lot of increase in ATM transactions for the last 2-3 months; transactions have gone up, and volume of cash withdrawal from ATMs on an average ticket size has also gone up.”
Data with the regulator also showed that ATM withdrawals were also on a steady rise since November last year. People withdrew Rs 36,518 crore from ATMs in November which rose to Rs 41,102 crore at the end of January 2018. It fell to Rs 37,126 crore at the end of February after supplies to ATMs began to slide.
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