PSBs headed by SBI to open at least 15,300 ATMs

Recently the Reserve Bank of India has liberated the norms on setting up of ATMs therefore public sector banks (PSB) have drafted enormous development plans to set up at least 15,300 ATMs across the country by the end of this fiscal year.

Under this expansion plan five leading state-owned banks, headed by State Bank, will be setting up 15,300 ATMs to help retail customers, for whom the service has become free from April 1 this year after the implementation of the RBI directives.

State Bank Group, is having the largest number of ATMs in the country, will be opening 13,400 more ATMs in the current fiscal after which the total number will increase to 25,000 by end-fiscal, an SBI official informed.

The official said, "Customer retention, particularly in the retail segment, necessitates setting up of large number of ATMs.

Presently, State Bank Group has 11,600 ATMs pan-India. We plan to more than double this number this fiscal”.

Recently, in the norms related to ATMs, Reserve Bank had permitted banks to open offsite ATMs without its prior approval. The apex bank has also allowed free usage of third party ATMs for customers from April 1.

However, banks have been allowed to charge Rs 18 per transaction from each other for every third party ATM transaction.