In order to curb the growing ATM frauds and boost digital transactions in India State Bank of India (SBI ) has lowered the ATM cash withdrawal from Rs 40000 to Rs 20000 a day that will take effect from 31st October.
"In view of the increase in the number of complaints received by banks around fraudulent transactions at ATMs and to encourage digital and cashless transactions, it has been decided to decrease the cash withdrawal limits of debit cards issued or being issued on 'Classic' and 'Maestro' platforms," said a bank communique to offices.
SBI Managing Director PK Gupta told, "Our internal analysis shows most actual withdrawals are of smaller amounts. So, Rs 20,000 should be adequate for most customers. We are trying to see whether smaller withdrawals could minimise frauds".
However the users with SBI platinum International Debit Card and Gold Card would be allowed to withdrawal of Rs 1 lakh and Rs 50000 per day.
The development comes a day after the police yesterday arrested two more Romanian nationals involved in an ATM skimming racket. In fact, industry insiders peg the loss from skimming – where devices are planted in ATMs to surreptitiously read card data, which is then cloned to swindle money – at over USD 2 billion a year.
(Featured image : Free Press Journal)