Hyderabad:A majority of ATMs in the city are running without cash due to non-supply of notes from the nodal branches of banks and alleged negligence of ATM distribution agencies in filling the machines with cash from time-to-time. The city has as many as 1,500 ATM booths.
Nearly 90 per cent of the offsite and 40 per cent onsite ATMs were not filled with cash on Saturday. Sunday was holiday for both the banks and the ATM agencies, and this led to the ATMs going dry by Saturday evening. K. Raghuram from Neredmet said there was no cash with the ATMs located at the Neredmet Chowrasta and Malkajgiri on Sunday. “I visited nearly 25 ATMs on the way from Neredmet to Secunderabad. I got only '2,000 at the ATM of a corporate bank on S.D. Road. Almost all the ATMs related to public sector banks remained dry till Monday afternoon,” he said.
An employee from Sisco cash distribution agency said a majority of the banks could not provide the normal supply of cash on Saturday. “This led to the crisis across the GHMC limits.” Secretary of the bank employees’ federation, M.S. Kumar, said ATM agencies kept blaming bankers to cover up their flaws. “After Christmas, all the nodal branches of banks are supplying sufficient cash to agencies for filling the ATMs. There is no cash shortage with city banks,” he said. Kumar sai-d the agencies must work hard for the coming three days to avoid a similar crisis by the end of the week.“Friday is a bank holiday in connection with Shivratri followed by fourth Saturday and Sunday. We are requesting the RBI to have sufficient currency supply in view of the coming holidays and are directing distribution agencies to make necessary arrangements to avoid inconvenience to bank customers,” he said.
Following complaints from customers, a few banks took the initiative for filling up a few ATMs with cash by Monday evening. The ATMs are expected to be refilled by Tuesday morning.
