With no access to cash, Indian IADs forced to idle their ATMs

By ATMmarketplace.com

In the wake of India's demonetization of 500 rupee and 1,000 rupee bank notes, independent ATM deployers are having a hard time getting their hands on cash, according to a report by Economic Times.

The report quoted operators of white label ATMs as saying 99 percent of the nation's 14,000 nonbank machines have sat idle since Nov. 8, when the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared India's two most popular bank note denominations null and void as legal tender.

The IADs said banks are stocking their own ATMs and branches with the limited supply of available banknotes, leaving nothing for nonbank ATMs. The situation also imposes hardship on Indians in rural areas where 6,500 of the WLAs are located.

Without local bank branches, this population depends on ATMs for cash. And they rely on cash to meet their everyday needs, since few rural merchants have access to point-of-sale devices for electronic transactions.

The IADs are asking for direct access to cash from the vault of the Reserve Bank of India.