Hyderabad: A cold war over overtime pay between bankers and cash-filling agencies is the main cause behind ATMs running out of cash. In the period immediately after demonetisation in November last year, the RBI had insisted that bankers speedily recaliberate ATMs to accept new currency notes.
Bankers forced the refillers to get the job done quickly. With long queues forming at ATM kiosks, the agencies hired extra staff to recaliberate all machines by the year end.
Since then, the agencies — five of them operate in TS — have been asking banks to compensate them for the overtime pay for their employees and remuneration for the additional staff.
A source from one of the cash-filling agencies said there was no response from bankers and a few of them began ‘non-cooperation’. Additionally, sources in Finance Security Services, which among others refills an ATM belonging to Allahabad Bank in Malkajgiri, said banks were not releasing money for them to replenish in the ATMs.
An FSS official said, “We can see online the cash status of the ATMs. Over the last 20 days, most banks are not releasing cash and a few banks like Allahabad Bank are providing it in the evening.”
On the issue of banks not paying the agencies, Mr B.S. Rambabu, secretary of the All India Bank Employees’ Association, said, “We have demanded many times that the government release funds. Demonetisation has caused huge losses to banks.”
