A committee constituted by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for reviewing ATM fees gamut, has recommended increasing certain charges related to cash withdrawal from ATM machines. These changes include an increase in the interchange fee per transaction, an increase in charges for transactions beyond the free monthly permissible limit, and a new free ATM transaction limit. Almost all of these changes will come into effect from August 1 this year, and a few others from January 1, 2022.
Let's take a look at the new ATM withdrawal charges that will come into effect later this year. From 1st August 2021, Rs 17 would be charged as interchange fee per financial transaction and Rs 6 for per non-financial transactions. From January 1, 2022 , bank customers will be charged Rs 21 per ATM transaction instead of Rs 20 after exhausting the limit of free transactions. Customers are eligible for 5 free transactions (inclusive of financial and non-financial transactions) every month from their own bank ATMs.
Customers would also be able to do 3 free transactions from other bank ATMs in metro cities and 5 transactions in non-metro cities. As per a letter issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the charges have been increased to balance the increasing cost of ATM deployment and expenses towards ATM maintenance incurred by banks/white label ATM operators. The last time the charges on ATM transactions were revised was way back in August 2012, while the charges payable by customers were last revised in August 2014.