No switching charges for ATM customers: IDRBT

MUMBAI: Hundreds of ATM customers will now get a relief, with the inter-bank connectivity services have been made free.
    
The Reserve Bank-promoted, Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology -- provider of the National Financial Switch (NFS), on Wednesday said it has waived off the switching fee to promote ATM accessibility in the country.
    
Presently, it costs a customer using the facility Rs 2 per transaction. Customers using nearly 16,891 ATMs of 27 private and public lenders in the country are expected to get a free-access to the inter-bank connectivity service of these ATMs.
    
NFS is the largest single ATM network in the country, covering ATMs of 27 leading banks such as ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Corporation Bank and Punjab National Bank, among others. NFS enables customer to use any ATM of member banks for services like cash withdrawal and balance enquiry.
    
IDRBT had launched the NFS in August 2004, connecting leading banks in the country. The switch enables integration of all ATMs of member banks by coordinating between the different banks' switches.
    
The Clearing Corporation of India is the clearing and settlement authority for the switch, which also operates its Mumbai-based NFS disaster recovery site.
    
The withdrawal of the service-charge is expected to promote ATM accessibility for customers across the country, besides helping banks reduce costs who can route their inter-bank ATM transactions through NFS, IDRBT said in a statement on Wednesday.