New safety rules may close 50% of ATMs by March 2019: Industry association

Regulatory changes are making it unviable to operate ATMs, says industry body

New compliance costs and the low interchange fee of Rs 15 a transaction could force closure of approximately 100,000 off-site and a little over 15,000 white-label automated teller machines (ATMs), or 50 per cent of the installed base of 238,000 units, the Confederation of ATM Industry (CATMi) has warned.

 The industry lobby group said this was the fallout of additional costs brought about by the recent regulatory guidelines for hardware and software upgrades, mandates on cash management standards, and the cassette-swap method of loading cash, which the industry could not afford. It said a large number of ATMs in non-urban