How ATMs are Losing Monthly Users in the Post-Demonetisation Era?

Image is used for representation purpose only. (Photo: Reuters)

New Delhi: In 1987, one of the biggest developments in the banking industry was when the invention of ATM (Automated Teller Machine) was extended to India owing to the fact that the foreign banks were trying to set their foot in the banking industry in India.

ATMs doubled in number during 2012 and 2015, however, their growth has remained at more or less a standstill thereafter. Additionally, the debit card transactions on ATMs have shown a substantial decline from over 750 million per month before demonetisation to 660 million thereafter. The use of ATMs is declining despite Prime Minister Modi’s Jan Dhan programme whereby a bank account and a RuPay Debit Card was provided to every household.

On the other hand, conventional methods of payments like PoS terminals have seen a substantial increase from 1.5 million in November to 2.7 million in June 2017 along with mobile banking increasing to 390 million in 2015-16 from 53 million in 2012-13.

Owing to the increasing use of smart-phones, coupled with various PoS i.e. Point-of-Sale terminals and e-wallets, the younger generation is totally hooked either to these conventional payment methods and the use of hard cash is decreasing day by day and thereby ATM withdrawals. After the demonetisation drive and other policy changes, nowadays most of the money that people have is all accounted for thus people don’t shy away from making digital payments or via debit cards that leave a trail behind.