Ministry of Finance

Posted On: 24 JUL 2018 4:03PM by PIB Delhi

The Government is aware of the newspaper reports that several ATMs have shown no-cash boards.

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.

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.

RBI has further informed that 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.

This was stated by Shri Shiv Pratap Shukla, Minister of State for Finance in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

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DSM/RM/KA

Cash availability pressures led to ATM shortages; government and central bank are monitoring currency stocks to ensure supply Cash availability pressures caused reports of ATMs showing no-cash notices; the central bank attributes increased ATM usage to seasonal factors (agricultural demand and state disbursement schemes) and structural factors (economic growth and high currency-deposit ratios). The Government and central bank perform regular monitoring of currency stocks, ATM functionality, and positions of fresh and reissuable notes in RBI vaults and bank currency chests to ensure adequate cash supply and prevent ATMs from running dry.