ATM operators see Rs120 cr bounty in recalibration

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press trust of india
Mumbai, Jan 4: Banks have started recalibrating the cash vending machines (ATMs) to dispense the new Rs200 banknotes which were introduced last August.
There are nearly 2.4 lakh automatic teller machines (ATMs), which includes around 30,000 cash recyclers. A cash recycler machine can dispense and accept cash.
According to industry experts, the overall recalibration process may cost banks Rs100-120 crore.
“We started recalibration a few days back with some banks. We have done about a few thousand ATMs for about five- six banks,” ATM manufacturer and service provider NCR Corporation India managing director Navroze Dastur said.
Each ATM has four cassettes and banks decide on which denomination of the currency is to be put in each of them and then accordingly recalibration is done, he said.
The process will require an engineer to visit each ATM location and recalibrate one of the cassettes to accommodate the Rs200 notes, Dastur said.
Hitachi Payment Services managing director Loney Antony said “based on the banks’ direction we have been recalibrating the cassette for Rs2,000 for Rs200 notes now. Over time, the current mix of Rs2,000 and Rs500 notes will move to Rs100, Rs200 and Rs500 notes.”
He said the process started a few months back and only 4,000 of the total of 2.4 lakh machines have so far been recalibrated.
Of the 2.4 lakh cash dispensing and cash recycler machines, NCR has deployed close to 1.10 lakh ATMs. Hitachi has 55,000, which it has either deployed or is managing.
Dastur said the average cost of recalibrate an ATM is Rs3,000-Rs4,000, which amounts to Rs100 crore for 2 lakh ATMs.