ATM transactions cap not against accounts holders' interest: Arun Jaitley

New Delhi: The Reserve Bank stands by its decision to put a cap on the number of free ATM transactions per month and taking steps to protect consumers' interest, Parliament was informed on February 24.

"The matter is subjudice and is being defended by the RBI. The government is of the view that the RBI is adequately protecting the interests of the account holders," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. As per information from the Reserve Bank, the decision to cap free transactions from ATMs has been challenged in a writ petition in Delhi High Court, Jaitley said.

Jaitely was replying to a question whether the Delhi High Court had sought comments on unnecessary taxing bank account holders and for fixing the limit of withdrawals from ATMs by the RBI and the steps taken by government to protect interests of account holders.

In August 2014, under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, the RBI had reduced the number of free transactions at other bank's ATM's for saving bank account holders from five to three, including both financial and non-financial transactions in six metro cities — Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

However, no such reduction is applicable on small, no frills or basic savings account holders. Also, a cap of five free transactions per month for saving bank account holders at their own bank ATMs is also in place following RBI directive.

However, the RBI has given banks freedom to decide on more number of free transactions per month at other bank ATMs as well as their own ATMs in any geographical location if they desire so. The RBI directives are in place since November 1, 2014. A customer is now required to pay a fee of up to Rs 20 for using ATMs beyond the permitted numbers of transactions in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Hyderabad.