The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked banks to ensure that ATMs dispense Rs 100 or Rs 200 denomination notes in order to enhance the availability of these currency notes to the public. Banks and White Label ATM Operators (WLAOs) have been asked to implement the direction in a phased manner.
In a circular released on Monday, the RBI said, “As part of an endeavour towards enhancing public access to frequently used denominations of banknotes, it has been decided that all banks and White Label ATM Operators (WLAOs) shall ensure that their ATMs dispense Rs 100 and Rs 200 denomination banknotes on a regular basis….”
The central bank has given a deadline of September 30,2025 to the banks and has asked them to ensure that 75 per cent of all ATMs must dispense Rs 100 and Rs 200 notes from at least one cassette by then. It further ordered that moving forward, by March 31, 2026, 90 per cent of all ATMs must dispense such notes from at least one cassette.
More often, while withdrawing money from ATMs, users get only Rs 500 denomination currency notes, which becomes inconvenient for smaller transactions.
Last month, the RBI increased the ATM fee by Rs 2 to Rs 23 per transaction with effect from May 1 and this fee will be decided by the ATM network. The interchange fee has been increased to Rs 19 from Rs 17 for financial transactions and Rs 7 for non-financial transactions. Goods and services tax will be applied additionally on these transactions.