No Cash display boards in ATMs-recent increase in demand for currency was seasonal

The Minister of State for Finance told Rajya Sabha today that the Government is aware of the newspaper reports that several ATMs have shown no-cash boards.

He further told that RBI has informed that the increase in demand for currency recently, which led to high ATM usage, can be attributed to seasonal and structural issues. Seasonal issues include demand for cash in the agriculture sector, and Schemes such as Investment Assistance Schemes for Farmers and Pension Schemes announced by a few State Governments. Structural issues include economic growth, high currency deposit (CD) ratio in some states, etc.

He stated that regular monitoring of cash availability and ATM functionality has been done by the Government to ensure that sufficient currency notes are made available so that ATMs do not run dry in any eventuality and people do not face any problems.

The Minister assured that as informed by the RBI as on 18.07.2018, the total stock of issuable currency in the country, including RBI vaults and currency chests of all banks across the country, was 2.93 lakh crores. Further, the position of fresh / re-issuable notes in currency chests of banks and in RBI vaults are being monitored on a regular basis and adequate supply of cash is being ensured.