In search of cash machines

Rising operational cost and a surge in digital payments are making ATMs scarce

- HARSH KUMAR

Ram Sewak, 42, uses UPI (unified payments interface) for most things. But it's cash when this sugarcane farmer from western Uttar Pradesh has to make labour payments. Sewak says it's getting increasingly tough to find ATMs that work or have sufficient cash, and that he has to often travel long distances to withdraw money.

Sewak is not alone to have experienced this, as this reporter found out while travelling to the outskirts of Delhi-NCR as well as parts of Uttar Pradesh, including Bulandshahr, Muzaffarnagar, and Meerut, to get a sense of the ATM universe in semi-urban and rural belts.

According to the Reserve Bank of India's latest data, as of end-March 2024, the total number of ATMs across India declined marginally to 253,000 from 255,000 the previous year. Public sector banks (PSBs) saw a reduction in both on-site and off-site ATMs - on-site machines fell from 78,777 in 2023 to 77,033 in 2024, while off-site ATMs decreased from 59,646 to 57,661. Private banks increased their on-site presence from 41,426 to 45,438 but saw a small reduction in off-site ATMs from 35,549 to 34,446. Foreign banks reported minor fluctuations, while small finance banks (SFBs) increased their ATM count from 2,821 to 3,068. As for payments banks, they shut down all their ATMs. White Label ATMs (WLAs), which are largely concentrated in rural and semi-urban areas, also dropped from 35,791 in 2023 to 34,602 in 2024.