POS cash withdrawal limit should be raised to Rs 5,000: SBI

India's largest lender SBI today said it has written to the Reserve Bank to increase the daily cash withdrawal limit from merchant outlets having POS (point of sale) machines to Rs 5,000 from Rs 1,000 at present. "We have requested the Reserve Bank of India to increase this limit from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000. It is under their consideration," SBI Deputy Managing Director (Corporate Strategy and New Businesses) S K Mishra told reporters on the sidelines of an industry conference.

The bank had sought the permission one month back, he said.

The average ticket size for an ATM transaction is Rs 3,654 so majority of transactions would be covered through cash out at such micro-ATMs if the limit is raised, he added.

Mishra said SBI is the only bank offering the 'cash at POS' facility at present and half of its 1.60 lakh POS machines have this facility.

Under the facility, a customer can walk into a merchant establishment and withdraw cash using his secret PIN as is done at an ATM. This facility is also aimed at reducing the cash management hassles for merchants, who may not be able to go to a bank for depositing their collections.

Mishra said the bank is targeting to take the number of POS machines to 2.50 lakh by the fiscal-end and expressed confidence that SBI will become the biggest POS machine operator by end of FY'16.

SBI is currently the fourth largest operator with the top three being all leading private sector lenders. The biggest among them has 2.80 lakh POS machines.

The total number of POS machines in India at present stands at 11 lakh, RBI Deputy Governor H R Khan said.