BANK STRIKE

ATMs empty as bank stir sparks higher withdrawals





NEW DELHI: A number of ATMs ran out of cash in the city. While ATMs of PSU banks that are on a two-day strike went dry early in the day, some ATMs
of private banks too ran out of money towards Thursday evening as PSU bank customers made a beeline for them.
the strike was called by united forum of bank union which is combination of nine banking unions. In this strike nearly 4000 branches were closed nation wide and the loss of Rs 250 billion is anticipated.
‘‘ It’s a new situation for us,’’ said a private banker. ‘‘ Now that all ATMs are linked and a customer from any bank can withdraw money from the ATM of any other bank, there was huge pressure on the ATMs of banks such as ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank.’’

The banker said the problem would be temporary. ‘‘ All ATMs are monitored electronically . As soon as they run out of money, the bank sends out personnel to replenish them,’’ he said. Private banks noticed higher withdrawals on Thursday and were replenishing the ATMs more frequently.

On Day 1 of the two-day strike, around 10 lakh employees of government owned banks, which control almost 70% of banking operations in India, struck work. These banks had filled their ATMs with cash on Wednesday night. But by afternoon , they went dry
.

Even as major private sector banks provided some relief to customers, the two-day nationwide strike by public sector bank employees over wage revision has left many people in a spot. With public sector banks accounting for 70% of banking business in the country, banking operations in the capital were also severely impacted.