Citizens irked by cashless ATMs in many parts of city

Citizens irked by cashless ATMs in many parts of city

Pune: Three localities that are a part of Pune’s Smart City project - Aundh, Baner and Balewadi - are still grappling with shortage of cash in ATMs seven months after demonetisation. Same is the case with areas that come under Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), where a majority of ATMs have less cash inflow while some have been shut for many days. 

The situation has been like this for months now and citizens of these areas are quite used to seeing the ‘Out of Cash’ signs outside ATMs. The upside is that people have started going for cashless transactions more and avoid using physical money as much as possible. However, non-availability of cash is still a worrying trend.

Interestingly, many people observed that co-operative ATMs generally have cash in them while big names like HDFC, SBI and AXIS banks don’t.

Less flow of money in Pimpri-Chinchwad
In many areas of Pimpri-Chinchwad, the ATMs are not completely dry but have less flow of money. 

Amit Shirsagar, cyber shop owner in Akurdi, said, “I am now used to paying online or through credit or debit card, as I cannot find any ATM, which has money in it. Two weeks ago, when I visited ATMs at Ravet Chowk, Shambhaji Chowk and Gurudwara Chowk, I found that none of them had money - including private and nationalised banks. But two days back, I again needed cash, and after checking 4-5 ATMs in Akurdi and Chinchwad, I found one nationlised bank ATM, which had cash. 

Shirsagar said another problem he faces is that these ATMs do not have cash in denominations of Rs 100.

Ankur Sikdar, content writer from Aundh, said, “Three weeks ago, when I was in urgent need of money, no ATM was functioning in the nearby area. And before few days, the private bank ATMs, as usual, didn’t have cash but nationalised banks ATMs did have cash. There also, the ATM had only Rs 500 and 2,000 notes, so it becomes very difficult to get change.”

Weekend Woes
Sabyasachi Shome, a media professional living in Balewadi, noticed that on the weekends, it is difficult to find cash in ATMs. “There are almost 15-20 ATMs between Mahabaleshwar Hotel and Cummin’s Chowk in Baner, and every time when I go to withdraw cash, they’re all dry. Some of the co-operative banks have cash and mostly during weekends the ATMs are cashless.”

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