As per press reports,
ICICI Bank from 01 January 2015, is rolling out a LessCash motivation tip to
its account holders.
ICICI Bank has decided to levy
charges on its own customers for accessing their Automated Teller Machines
(ATMs) after five transactions.
After exceeding the five free transaction
limits, customers will have to pay Rs 20 per financial transaction excluding
service tax and Rs 8.50 for every non-financial transaction for using own
bank's ATM.
These charges will also be applicable at
non-ICICI Bank ATMs in six metros after three free transactions--Mumbai, New
Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
In case if the card is used in non-metro
areas then customers can enjoy five free transactions per month at non-ICICI
Bank ATMs, after which the same charges will apply.
As a minor concession, customers
maintaining an average monthly balance of more than INR 25,000, will not be
charged for using the bank's ATM even beyond five transactions.
This is in line with RBI Circular dt
October 10, 2014 on Usage
of ATMs –Rationalization of number of free transactions.
Through this step the respective Banks
are encouraging their customers to migrate from Cash Transactions to Electronic
Transactions.
The pressure will be more on
commercial establishments and organizations to offer alternate payment channels
to their customers.
Yes, this is the way to go ahead for
LessCash Transactions in our country.
