RBI proposes to make card-less cash withdrawal facility available across all banks, ATM networks using UPI

What is the News?

Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has proposed to make cardless cash withdrawal facilities available at all ATMs, irrespective of banks, through the Unified Payment Interface(UPI).

What is a cardless cash withdrawal facility?

The cardless cash withdrawal facility does not require bank customers to use their debit or credit cards while withdrawing cash from ATMs.

What are the current ways of cardless cash withdrawals at ATMs? 

Under the current cardless cash withdrawal facility, individuals can withdraw cash without using any debit card at Automated teller machines(ATMs). 

The cardless withdrawal request can be initiated for a minimum of ₹100 per transaction and up to a maximum of ₹10,000 per day or ₹25,000 per month for a beneficiary, while the limits are subject to change as per regulatory guidelines.

Currently, few banks allow their users to withdraw cash from their ATMs without a card. However, it is a long-drawn process. Users have to install apps of their respective banks and first select the option of cardless cash withdrawal on the app, followed by adding beneficiary details and the withdrawal amount.

How will cash withdrawals via UPI work?

RBI did not disclose specific details on how the process will work.

But according to experts, ATMs will show an option to withdraw cash using UPI. Upon selecting that option, a user would have to add the amount they wish to withdraw, following which a QR code would be generated on the ATM machine. 

The user would then have to scan that code on their UPI app and enter their pin following which the ATM will dispense cash.

What are the benefits and concerns of a cardless cash withdrawal facility?

Benefits: It would enhance the ease of cash transactions. Moreover, the absence of a need for a card to initiate cash withdrawal transactions would help in containing frauds like card skimming, card cloning, etc.

Concerns: As of now, there are more than 900 million debit cards in the country, and experts have cautioned that allowing cash withdrawals through UPI could negatively impact debit card usage. However, the RBI has assured that the issuance of debit cards would not stop due to the move, since they have other uses beyond cash withdrawals.

Source: This post is based on the article “RBI proposes to make card-less cash withdrawal facility available across all banks, ATM networks using UPI” published in AIR on 8th April 2022.