Balance Enquiry at ATMs Will Not Be A Free Service From 1st July

The  Reserve Bank of India has taken a tough decision regarding balance enquiry through ATMs; it will be implemented from 1st July, 2011. From 1st July, customers will have to pay for all non-finance transactions like 'balance enquiry' at ATMs other than the home bank of the customer.

A source from Reserve Bank of India said that they have taken this decision to discipline the customers. There has been unreasonably excessive use of non-bank ATMs by customers for checking account balance, mini statements and other purposes leading to wastage of paper. According to RBI reports,  28% of the total ATM transactions in April 2011 occurring on the National Payments Switch related to balance enquiry and mini statement. Implementaion of the current decision can also reduce paper wastage.

As a result of this decision, apart from the transactions beyond the five free transactions to every customer at non-bank ATMs, all non-finance transactions would also have to be paid for from now.

RBI has also taken a decision in favour of the customers: from now on, all customer complaints regarding faulty ATM transactions will have to be addressed by the appropriate bank within 7 days of the complaint. Otherwise for every additional day, the customer will receive a compensation of Rs100 from the bank.

Most people have welcomed RBI’s decision to penalise banks for laxity in resolving ATM-related complaints; but the reactions to the decision regarding balance enquiry etc through ATMs is mixed..

Some have welcomed the decision saying that this can help reduce wastage of paper and protect the environment in the long run.

Some, of course, are quite angry with the decision. They doubt the intentions of the government and are distinctly unhappy and think it would inconvenience people. They feel that  the slogan of world class service will be meaningless if the government reverts to traditional ways of banking service. They demand an explanation from the RBI - though the Reserve Bank has announced a reasoned decision.

Some corporate executives suggest that the RBI should withdraw this decision and introduce an option to check balance on screen without the facility to print it out.