OPINION: By making ATM transactions expensive, the Reserve Bank of India is contradicting its own stance

Monday, August 18, 2014

On Thursday, when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) permitted banks to charge customers for using other bank ATMs more than thrice a month and that of own-banks more than five times, the apex bank was contradicting its own stated policy stance of encouraging public to alternative banking channels and, then gradually, to paperless banking.

It is the same central bank which in 2011 issued the operational guidelines on implementation of Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) and its convergence with Financial Inclusion Plan (FIP)”, to give a fillip to financial inclusion. In RBI’s own words, that was “part of efforts and lead to a scalable and sustainable financial inclusion model.”

To be sure, using ATMs to withdraw cash is not paperless banking but certainly a step towards encouraging customers gradually move to the regime of electronic payments over a period of time.

Source: First Biz (link opens in a new window)

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