Cash crunch at AGS hits banks' ATM ops

A cash crunch at India's second-largest ATM manager AGS Transact has begun to impact cash dispensers of some of India's top domestic banks, after sparking defaults on bank loans, statutory payments and staff salaries.

- Shayan Ghosh

According to a person aware of the development, banks including ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Yes Bank are among lenders which have seen some cash dispensers shut. A notice on Yes Bank's website said some of its ATMs were currently unavailable, directing customers to a branch or another ATM.

The person cited above said AGS staffers managing these machines shut them down after their salary dues piled up. Put together, the three banks have over 32,000 ATMs and cash recyclers, as per RBI data, although it could not be immediately ascertained as to how many of these are managed by AGS. The company had 32,151 ATMs and cash recyclers at the end of September.