RBI to lift ATM withdrawal limit

The Reserve Bank of India will lift restrictions on daily withdrawal of money from ATMs (automated teller machines) starting 1 February 2017.

The announcement was made through a circular issued on 30 January 2017. According to the notice, the decision was taken after a review of the pace of remonetisation.

Key Highlights

• RBI has asked all banks to set their own daily limit as they did before the demonetisation of old high denomination currency notes on 8 November 2016.

• The RBI will also be removing all limits on cash withdrawals from current accounts, cash credit accounts and overdraft accounts.

• The weekly limit of Rs 24000 on savings bank accounts will continue to hold for now but is under consideration for withdrawal in the near future.

• Along with this, the RBI has also urged all banks to encourage their constituents to move towards digitisation of payments and switch the mode of payment from cash mode to non-cash mode.

Comment

The Indian government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced sudden demonetisation of Rs 500 and 1000 notes on 8 November 2016, causing the whole nation to go into a panic mode. The new currency inflow was expected to fall back into normalcy post December 2016, after the completion of the time given to submit the old currency notes.

Though in January the daily withdrawal limit was raised to 4500 from 2500, the cash struggle continued. The current decision hopes to bring huge relief to common people and small businesses.