Inter-Bank ATM free of charge from April

The Reserve Bank of India circular, which has made inter-bank cash withdrawals for bank account holders through automated teller machines (ATMs) free of charge irrespective of bank in which they have account, has become effective from April 1 onwards. The newly-announced measure is expected to benefit countless ATM users countrywide, along with making the ATM usage more popular.

While ATM users from any bank will no longer be required to pay any charge for withdrawing money from an ATM, the banks have yet to decide upon a standardized rate that they would charge their counterparts for facilitating the proposed service.

Thus far, the charges pertaining to the inter-bank withdrawal facility was passed on by the banks to their clients. Lenders had either entered into bi-lateral or multi-lateral agreements, or were using national electronic fund transfer (NEFT) for speedy inter-bank fund transfers, at an economical cost.

There are some issues for the users, if the card gets stuck or cash not dispensed the user has to contact the service providing bank or the ATM owner. The users bank is not responsible for these scenarios.