At a time when the Central and state government is working towards an inclusive banking infrastructure, a recent banking report has shown that the number of ATMs in a part of non-rural Ahmedabad district make for the total ATMs available in entire rural Gujarat. Moreover, Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot districts have about half of the total ATMs in the state.
According to the report of the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) for the April-June quarter of fiscal 2018-19, Ahmedabad district has 2,296 ATMs, of which 80 are in rural areas, meaning that 2,216 ATMs are in urban areas.
Compared to this, the number of total ATMs in rural areas under all 33 districts stand at 2,146, that is 70 less than in urban Ahmedabad.
The state's major districts namely Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, and Rajkot together have 5,588 ATMs, about 48 per cent of 11,427 ATMs in the state and about 2.5 times that of all ATMs in rural areas. Bankers attribute infrastructure, behavioural and viability issues in the rural-urban divide.
An officer of a Public Sector Bank (PSB) said that a significant number of villagers still do not want ATMs and feel that collecting money from the counter is more reliable. "Under such circumstances, it is not viable to set up a full-fledged ATM in villages. An ATM requires two Air Conditioners, a CCTV, other hardware and logistics to refill them on time. This is not the case in rural areas."
An official of another PSB said that the availability of electricity is also a major bottleneck. "Moreover, now the focus is increasing the use of mobile banking and net-banking and so the number of ATMs are being rationalised. The government wants people to conduct financial transactions digitally," said the official.
The report also said 241 ATMs have been shut down in the past four quarters. Urban areas witnessed a drop of 480 ATMs, while rural and semi-urban areas added 239 ATMs.
RESEARCH
The report has been released by the State Level Bankers Committee for the April-June quarter
HIGHLIGHTS
- Metro and urban areas have 56.52% of ATMs
- Private banks have 69.5%, PSBs have 51.15% ATMs in urban areas
- 480 ATMs shut down in urban areas of the state in a year
- Rural, semi-urban areas get 239 ATMs
- Focus now on mobile-banking, net-banking
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The state's major districts namely Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, and Rajkot together have 5,588 ATMs, about 48 per cent of 11,427 ATMs in the state and about 2.5 times that of all ATMs in rural areas. Bankers attribute infrastructure, behavioural and viability issues in the rural-urban divide.
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