ATMs have come under immense scrutiny in the period following demonetisation, last year.
Data from the RBI indicates that the number of ATMs in rural areas has decreased starting September 2016 for two continuous quarters, the first such occasion since June 2014. The total number of ATMs in the country had increased by more than 33 percent between June 2014 and June 2017.
RBI Classification Into Four Different Regions
The RBI classifies regions in the country into four categories based on the population. The various places in which bank branches & ATMs are located are classified into the following:
- Rural: Population less than 10,000
- Semi-Urban: At least 10,000 & less than 1 lakh
- Urban: At least 1 lakh & less than 10 lakh
- Metropolitan: 10 lakh and above
The above classification is followed both for the categorisation of location of the bank branch as well as ATM.
Number of ATMs Down in Both Urban & Rural Centres
The total number of ATMs, by the end of the quarter in June 2017, was 2.23 lakh. Out of the 2.23 lakh, close to 62,000 were in metropolitan areas, around 61,000 in semi-urban areas, around 58,500 in urban areas and the remaining 41,000 in rural areas. The total number of ATMs by June 2017 has increased by more than 1/3rd compared to the 1.67 lakh ATMs by the end of June 2014.
The number of ATMs in metro centres has increased with each quarter from June 2014 and increased by more than 5,000 between September 2016 & June 2017. Same is the case with the ATMs in semi-urban centres except for a slight blip in December 2016. The number of ATMs in urban areas increased continuously starting June 2014 and reached 60459 in September 2016 (except for a drop in March 2015). Thereafter, the number has come down to 58593 by June 2017.
In the rural centres, the number of ATMs increased continuously up to September 2016 to reach 41,633. It then decreased for two quarters continuously only to again increase during the quarter ending June 2017. Even as of June 2017, the number of ATMs in rural areas is less than what it was in September 2016. It has to be noted that the total number of ATMs in the country increased by over 2 percent between September 2016 & June 2017.
Number of ATMs of Some of the Public & Private Sector Banks Comes Down
In the rural centres, number of ATMs of the following banks has come down in June 2017 compared to September 2016. It is observed that the number of ATMs of major public sector banks (SBI etc.) and the white label ATMs has increased while the number of ATMs of most other banks in rural centres has come down.
Banks Whose ATM Count in Rural Areas Has Decreased From Sept 2016 to June 2017
- Allahabad Bank
- Andhra Bank
- Bank of Baroda
- Bank of India
- Bank of Maharashtra
- Canara Bank
- Central Bank of India
- Corporation Bank
- Dena Bank
- HDFC Bank
- IDBI Bank
- Indian Bank
- Indian Overseas Bank
- Oriental Bank of Commerce
- Punjab & Sind Bank
- Tata Communications Payment Solutions Ltd. (White Label ATMs)
- Karur Vysya Bank
- Syndicate Bank
Banks Whose ATM Count in Rural Areas Has Increased From Sept 2016 to June 2017
- State Bank group
- AGS Transact Technologies Ltd (White Lable ATMs)
- Axis Bank
- BTI Payments Pvt. Ltd (White Lable ATMs)
- City Union Bank
- Hitachi Payment Services Pvt. Ltd. (White Lable ATMs)
- ICICI Bank
- Jammu & Kashmir Bank
- Lakshmi Vilas Bank
- Punjab National Bank
- Union Bank of India
(This article was originally published in Factly.)
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