In a bid to ease the cash crunch, State Bank of India (SBI) on Thursday allowed those looking to withdraw cash to do so from its point of sale (PoS) devices available with merchants.
This facility will be available for customers of all banks, and can be used in about 80% of SBI’s PoS devices across the country.
“To reach out and facilitate maximum number of people looking for convenient cash withdrawal, State Bank of India, country’s largest lender, is also providing facilities of cash through ‘Cash@POS’ initiative,” SBI said in a release. “Debit card holders of SBI and all other banks can withdraw cash from PoS machines installed by SBI across various merchant locations.”
According to the the Reserve Bank of India guidelines, customers can withdraw up to ₹1,000 a day a card in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities, and ₹2,000 a card a day in Tier 3 to Tier 6 cities.
Not to charge any fees
The bank pointed out that it would not charge any fees for this facility at present.
“SBI has a total of 6.08 lakh PoS machines, of which 4.78 lakh PoS machines are enabled to dispense cash to the customers of SBI and the banks who have enabled this facility for their customers,” the release said.
A recent report by SBI estimated the shortfall of currency in circulation at ₹70,000 crore.
