New Delhi, Sept 04: Has this happened to you lately? It's payday. You go to your office ATM (automated teller machine), only to find the machine out of cash. Disappointed, you try the ATM located in your neighbourhood market. Tough luck. The ATM screen greets you with a ‘‘Sorry, this machine is out of order.’’
Last weekend, this is exactly what happened to Sanjay Sharma. ‘‘As the withdrawal got delayed by two days, I couldn’t buy CDs for my son from a discount outlet since August 31 was the last day of the sale,’’ said Sharma. He’s not the only one. Consumers complain that the ATM network goes down almost every second day, causing great public inconvenience. As a resident of Mayur Vihar, Mahendra Bahal, remarks, ‘‘It appears banks have issued more cards than their ATMs can handle.’’
Banks acknowledge that cash transactions on ATMs rise significantly during the last days and the first week of each month. According to Rajesh Joshi of HDFC Bank, ‘‘Transaction levels usually rise around 35 per cent during the first 10 days of the month.’’ Adds Vishal Sharma, manager, ATM, IDBI Bank, ‘‘ATMs located next to our corporate clients record a marked increase in transactions during the time of salary disbursement. Many clients also use our ATMs for bill pay facility and other utilities.’’
But are the banks geared to cope with this demand surge? Most of them say they carefully project cash demand per ATM and have 24-hour online monitoring systems. Anil Wadhwani, vice president, Citibank, explains: ‘‘We calculate the requirement during the various cycle periods, especially the peak. We add a substantial buffer and proactively provide enough cash at the machines. The machines are replenished twice a day to avoid any customer discomfort.’’