Cash withdrawal from any ATM free from today Press Trust of India Wednesday, April 01, 2009, (New Delhi) From Wednesday onwards, you need not shell out any extra money to use ATM of any bank, thanks to a directive by the Reserve Bank. Providing the much-needed relief to the common man, banks have been asked by the regulator not to charge any fee for cash withdrawals using ATM and debit cards issued by other banks from April 1 onwards. However, banks can still charge extra for services such as cash withdrawal with the use of credit cards and at ATMs located outside India. Under these circumstances also, some banks plan to expand their ATM network. Oriental Bank of Commerce is planning to increase its ATM base and will open 60 new ATMs across the country to facilitate smooth cash withdrawal. "We are planning to open 60 more ATMs to facilitate cash withdrawal," said S C Sinha, OBC executive director. When asked about the strategy the largest private sector lender ICICI will adopt to comply with the regulation, a bank's spokesperson said, "We will abide by the RBI directions". Last year on March 10, the RBI had come out with guidelines limiting the fee charged by banks for using their ATMs by clients of other lenders to Rs 20. It had also allowed the use of ATM, for purposes like balance enquiry, free of any charge. This was to ensure greater transparency and facilitating usage of any ATM installed within the country by customers without shelling out more, the central bank had said. At present, banks charge Rs 20 per transaction when a customer uses the cash machine of any bank other than the one in which he/she has an account with. Various banks have already entered into bilateral and multi-lateral arrangements with other banks to have inter-bank ATM networks.
