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RBI mulls interoperability for cash-accepting ATMs

Such a move would allow accountholders to deposit cash at any bank's deposit-taking machine and have it credited to their home bank account.

April 17, 2015

The Reserve Bank of India is a considering a move to make all cash deposit machines on the national financial switch interoperable, meaning that accountholders could deposit money at any bank's cash-accepting machine and have it credited to their home bank account.

According to Indian publication DNA, RBI Deputy Governor H.R. Khan said in a news conference that a proposal from the National Payments Corporation had been presented to the NFS for consideration.

Khan said that the impetus for the proposal was a desire to encourage citizens to use alternate banking channels for their everyday banking, making them less reliant on teller-initiated transactions.

He also defended the fees charged by banks on such transactions. "[A]ny technology or initiative has to be profitable, particularly in the initial phase," he said. "If you are not able to recover the cost then they will not have incentive to expand all these alternate channels."