The introduction of a new Rs 100 note creates many challenges and an investment of Rs 100 crore will be required to recalibrate the country’s 2.4 lakh machines, the ATM operations industry has said.
The introduction, which comes even as the industry is just about finishing the recalibration to dispense the newly introduced Rs 200 denomination notes, may only aggravate the pain, they reportedly said.
“We need to recalibrate ATMs for the new Rs 100 note. In India, therefore around 2.4 lakh ATMs will need to be recalibrated,” a PTI report quoted Balasubramanian, the president of FSS who also serves as the director of industry lobby Catmi, as saying.
He added that the co-existence of both the new and the older versions of Rs 100 notes poses a challenge.
“The continuity of old notes, introduction of new notes through the ATM channel and their availability will determine whether to recalibrate or not,” he reportedly said.
Radha Rama Dorai, the managing director for ATM and allied services for FIS, said there is a likelihood of an imbalance between the supply of the new notes and the withdrawal of the old notes, especially in the hinterland.
“If the supply of the new currency is unable to fill the gap created by the withdrawal of the old currency, dispensation of Rs 100 currency notes through the ATMs will get affected till such time the imbalance exists,” she was quoted as saying.
Hitachi Payment Services’ managing director Loney Antony reportedly said the exercise of recalibration of the new Rs 100 note could take over Rs 100 crore and 12 months of time to completely recalibrate 2.4 lakh ATMs in the country.
“As the new Rs 200 note recalibration for all ATMs is still not completed, the recalibration of the new Rs 100 note could take longer, unless it is planned properly,” PTI quoted Antony as saying.
Dimension of the Rs100 banknote will be 66 mm x 142 mm, making it smaller than the current Rs 100 notes as against the current note’s dimension of 157 mm x 73 mm.