SBI, the country’s largest public sector bank has halved the daily cash withdrawal limit on ATMs from Rs. 40,000 to Rs. 20,000 owing to increasing instances of fraud and to encourage digital and cashless transactions among its customers. The withdrawal limit per card swipe is Rs 10,000 but you can swipe your card multiple times in an ATM. This is where the daily withdrawal limit of Rs 20,000 kicks in.
This action has come in the light of various card skimming activities that have been making headlines. Skimming happens at ATMs, restaurants, shops or virtually anywhere you use your card where a device copies your magnetic strip. Through skimming, a fraudster can duplicate your card and run up charges on your account. SBI has also mandated that customers with magnetic strip cards have to convert their cards to EMV chip cards by 31st December 2018, as we explain here.
“The limit will be set on ‘Classic’ and ‘Maestro’ platforms and will be effective from 31st October. Also, most of the daily cash transactions don’t cut across Rs. 20,000/- and should be adequate for most of our customers”, said an SBI official in an official statement to its offices. Having said that, SBI customers can opt for card variants that offer higher daily transaction limits for higher minimum balance accounts. The bank has directed all its branches to display the revised withdrawal limit on the premises by 29th September 2018 in view of guidelines by Banking Codes & Standards Board of India (BCSBI).
