Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
08-March-2016 16:51 IST
As per present guidelines of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), from
November 1, 2014, banks are mandated to offer minimum five free
transactions per month in own bank ATMs and three in other bank ATMs in
six metro centres (Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and
Hyderabad). In non-metro centres, minimum five free transactions per
month in own bank ATMs and five in other bank ATMs are mandated. Banks
are free to offer free transactions above the mandated limit specified
by RBI.
As on 24th February, 2016, Department of Posts (DoP) has installed
550 ATMs out of a target of 1000 ATMs in various parts of the country.
As on 31.12.2015, Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) have 193434 ATMs
across the country, out of which 33249 ATMs are in Rural Centres and
51925 in semi-urban centres. In order to expand the reach of ATMs in
Tier III centres (population between 20,000 to 49,999) to Tier VI centre
(population less than 5000), RBI has permitted non-bank entities
incorporated in India. Three different schemes are available to such
While Label ATM operators for setting of While Label ATMs (WLAs), which
incentivize setting up of WLAs in Tier III to Tier VI centres, details
of which are available in RBI Circular No. DPSS.CO.PD.No. 2298.
10.002.2011-2012 dated 20.6.2012 available on RBI’s website (https://rbi.org.in). as on 31.2.2015, 11706 WLAs have been set up.
This was stated by Shri Jayant Sinha, Minister of State in the
Ministry of Finance in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.
