India’s largest lender the State Bank of India (SBI) has halved the daily withdrawal limit from ATMs to Rs 20,000 on Classic and Maestro debit cards.
The bank, however, said that the customers having other variants of SBI debit card can continue to enjoy higher daily withdrawal from ATMs.
Industry sources suggest that the average cash withdrawal limit has been curtailed to put a check on the rising menace frauds and promote digital transaction.
A notification pertaining to step was already announced by the bank a month ago. The bank alerted its customers holding Classic and Maestro debit cards regarding downsizing of cash withdrawal limit to Rs 20,000 a day from ATM starting October 31.
“Daily cash withdrawal limit for Classic and Maestro debit cards has been reduced from Rs 40,000 to Rs 20,000 per day with effect from October 31. If you require higher daily cash withdrawal limit, please apply for a higher card variant,” reads SBI’s official website.
“We analysed all the ATM transactions and we found that most of them are less than Rs 20,000 a day. In case of frauds reported to us, we found that in all such cases withdrawals of Rs 40,000 (the maximum) have happened. So, this is basically to protect the customers and secondly, we want that more digital transactions should happen,” said PK Gupta, Managing Director, SBI.
If a customer wants to avail a higher limit of cash withdrawal, he or she can ask the bank for a higher variant card.
