SBI yet to recalibrate 18,135 ATMs for new notes: RTI

Country's largest lender State Bank Of India (SBI) is yet to recalibrate 18,135 automated teller machines (ATMs) even after 21 months of demonetisation, an RTI query has revealed.

The recalibration is a process, in which the cassettes in the ATMs that hold cash are modified to suit the size of the currency.

Madhya Pradesh based RTI activist Chandrashekhar Gaud had asked the SBI that how many ATMs have been recalibrated for dispensing the new currency notes of Rs 2,000, Rs 500 and Rs 200 denomination.

In a reply sent on August 18, SBI said that out of 59,521 ATMs, 41,386 have been recalibrated and an amount of Rs 22.50 crore was spent on this work.

Thus, it is evident that 18,135 ATMs at present are not able to dispense new currency notes.

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On November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the demonetisation of currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations. After this, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had issued new currency notes of Rs 2,000, Rs 500 and Rs 200 in a phased manner.