RBI bats for cardless cash withdrawal at ATMs of all banks

The Reserve Bank on Thursday asked banks to provide the option of Interoperable Card-less Cash Withdrawal (ICCW) at their ATMs, a move aimed at curbing frauds like skimming, card cloning and device tampering.

Currently, cardless cash withdrawal through ATMs is offered by a few banks for their customers at their own ATMs (also known as on-us basis).

"All banks, ATM networks and WLAOs (White Label ATM Operators) may provide the option of ICCW at their ATMs," the central bank said in a circular.

It further said the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has been advised to facilitate Unified Payments Interface (UPI) integration with all banks and ATM networks.

While UPI would be used for customer authorisation in such transactions, settlement would be through the National Financial Switch (NFS) / ATM networks.

"The on-us/off-us ICCW transactions shall be processed without levy of any charges other than those prescribed (on Interchange Fee and Customer Charges)," the RBI added.

Further, withdrawal limits for ICCW transactions will be in line with the limits for regular on-us/off-us ATM withdrawals.

The RBI said all other instructions related to harmonisation of turn around time (TAT) and customer compensation for failed transactions will continue to be applicable.

In April, the RBI had said the absence of need for a card to initiate cash withdrawal transactions would help in containing frauds like skimming, card cloning and device tampering.

To encourage cardless cash withdrawal facility across all banks and all ATM networks/operators, the RBI had proposed to enable customer authorisation through the use of UPI while settlement of such transactions would happen through the ATM networks.