(a) whether the Government proposes to regulate the installation of Automated Teller Machines
(ATMs) in rural areas by Commercial banks and prescribe a minimum obligation on them;
(b) if so, whether this would ease the pressure on State Bank of India (SBI) to cater to rural areas; and
(c) the bank-wise and State-wise details of ATMs installed till now by commercial banks?
MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE (SHRI NAMO NARAIN MEENA)
(a):- As per the extant authorization policy general permission has been granted to all the
scheduled commercial banks to install ATMs/ Mobile ATMs at the location of their choice. Thus
banks are not required to take prior permission of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for setting up
of ATMs. However, the banks have been advised to report full details of the off-site ATMs installed
by them.
(b): Setting up of ATMs by other banks will certainly reduce the burden on State Bank of India (SBI)
which has the largest presence in the country. However, banks will setup ATMs primarily to cater to
the needs of their own customers only.
(c): As of March, 2010 commercial banks had a network of 60,153 ATMs. The bank-wise details are given
at Annex