In a decision to ease workings at various branches of Indian Bank, and avoid long queueing up of customers at on-site ATMs (those located within a bank's branch) to exchange Rs. 2000 notes for a smaller denomination, the Bank has now decided to stop loading its ATMs with Rs 2000 notes from March 1, 2020.
Customer-friendly move
In a major customer-friendly push, Rs 2,000 currency cassettes would be disabled at all Indian Bank ATMs and cash recyclers.
High-value notes of Rs 2000 pose an inconvenience to customers, who find it hard to exchange it at retail outlets and other places to procure a change of smaller denomination notes. To become more customer-friendly, the Indian Bank ATMs will now start dispensing more Rs 200 notes, instead of Rs 2000.
According to RBI data, as of December 2019, the Indian Bank has 3,988 ATMs across India, of which 3,289 ATMs were on-site and 699 off-site. Going forward, the Indian Bank ATMs across the country will only dispense notes of Rs 100, Rs 200 and Rs 500 denominations.
According to sources, it is not yet certain if Rs 2000 notes will discontinue being loaded into its ATMs post-merger with the Allahabad Bank. However, Indian Bank officials believe that the final decision is entirely dependent on the merged entity.
Are other banks following the Indian Bank's customer-friendly strategy?
According to V. Balasubramanium, President of Financial Software and Systems (FSS), a firm that manages ATM network of several banks in India, stated that no information or instruction from other customer private banks has been received yet to stop loading ATMs with Rs 2000 notes into them.
