Most banks don’t actually own ATMs and that’s a reason why they are making gigantic losses

The story of Indian ATMs is unique. No matter which bank has an ATM, 50% of it runs by ATM operators, who earn commission from each transaction made. However with demonetization, the ATM operators are incurring losses every day.

In November itself the industry that manages ATMs has reported a loss of Rs 475-500 crores. The same is expected in December. Now the operators want the government to make up for the losses.

" While our revenues are zero, our costs have tripled. We ran additional shifts, we reconfigured all ATMs in minimum time,” V Balasubramanian, president (transaction processing and ATM service), FSS, told the ET.

No doubt, the ATMs are playing saviours at the time of demonetization. And taking the credit of making India’s economy alive during cash crunch, it’s not weird for them to ask for compensation.

"If the government can compensate toll operators for loss due to demonetisation, they should do the same for ATM operators," Navroz Dastur, MD, NCR India - the largest ATM manufacturer, which also manages networks, told the financial daily.