It is Diwali festival time, and we all would be in need of hefty cash, hence the queues at ATM would be maximum. Many of us would be visiting our ATM more frequently considering Diwali comes also with an heavy expense, as citizens are busy buying gifts, sweets, gold, furnitures or even home appliances. But there is a sad news if you are an SBI customer, as your bank has just slashed the daily withdrawal limit at ATM using debit cards. The current withdrawal limit now at SBI is of Rs 20,000 effective from October 31, compared to the previous Rs 40,000 on daily basis. This could be frustrating enough, if you are planning to remove more than Rs 20,000 at your ATM. However, do not worry, there is a way out for you SBI customer.! You do not have follow the Rs 20,000 cash withdrawal limit, here's why. 

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Firstly, the daily cash withdrawal limit is being levied at Classic and Maestro Debit Cards. Hence, if you require higher daily cash, then you have an option to apply for new higher card variant at SBI. 

The bank has clearly mentioned on its website saying, "Daily Cash withdrawal limits for Classic and Maestro Debit Cards reduced from Rs.40,000/- to Rs.20,000/- per day with effect from 31st Oct 2018. If you require higher daily cash withdrawal limit, please apply for a higher card variant."

One can even apply for Visa or MasterCard at SBI for higher variant like in gold, silver or platinum, there is no limit on them. 

Apart from this, SBI also has silver international card, global international card, gold international card and platinum international card. 

What is even more easier for you is that, once you apply for higher variant debit card those will come with SBI's new EMV chip. SBI has asked all customers to replace their ATM-cum-debit cards with magnetic stripe, for which the lender has introduced a new EVM-chip. The deadline to replace the old debit card is by end of this year. 

Going ahead, if you do not want to apply for higher card and still need higher daily cash requirement, then you can always open a savings bank account with some other bank who has more limit than Rs 20,000 on daily basis. This surely will meet your requirement, as opening a savings bank account is as easy with depositing Rs 1,000 only. There are facilities where a bank also transfers your entire account to the other bank you have decided to continue with. 

If you are still not satisfied, then there is one more option, however, this one requires discipline or else the burden stays with you. An SBI customer can withdraw cash using credit cards, and immediately transfer your debit card funds for repaying the amount withdrawn. Remember that you finish this process by end of the deadline, or else you will be charged with interest on your cash withdrawal using credit cards. 

Finally, to avoid all the above, you can always make most of your payment via Point of Sale (POS) using SBI debit cards, and still manage to fulfill the Rs 20,000 daily limit. There are also reward points offered by SBI on multiple occassions, when payment is made digitally. 

SBI has made no changes in its limit on Point of Sale (POS) or e-commerce platform, which clearly indicates that the lender is trying to push more of digital transaction. At present there are no minimum limit at transactions made on POS or e-commerce, however, the maximum limit is up to Rs 50,000. 

Hence, if you are in need of more than Rs 20,000 at SBI on daily basis, then you can opt for the above mentioned steps. 

The reason why SBI decided to slash cash withdrawal limit is to minimise frauds. The lender has been taking various steps to eliminate finance terrorism, which is why, it has also introduced EMV chip.