HIGHLIGHTS
*Over 42 crore bank customers will be affected with this limit in the festival season
*SBI halved the withdrawal limit from Rs 40,000 to Rs 20,000
*Limit applicable for Classic and Maestro card holders
The reduction in ATM withdrawal limit to Rs 20,000 from Rs 40,000 by State Bank of India comes into effect from tomorrow. So, if you hold an SBI Classic or Maestro debit card, then you will be able to only withdraw Rs 20,000 a day from ATM from Wednesday.
In an attempt to curb increasing instances of ATM frauds, the State Bank of India halved the daily ATM withdrawal limit on October 1. Over 42 crore bank customers will be affected with this limit in the festival season.
For customers looking to withdraw more than Rs 20,000 daily, they can apply for a higher variant debit card. According to an official, the SBI Classic debit card is not a chip-based card and there are concerns about its security. The official also said that the bank decided to reduce the withdrawal limit due to increase in number of complaints regarding cloning.
SBI managing director PK Gupta had earlier said, "We analysed all the ATM transactions and we found that most of them are less than Rs 20,000 a day. In case of frauds reported to us, we found that in all such cases withdrawals of Rs 40,000 (the maximum) have happened. So this is basically to protect the customers and secondly, we want that more such (digital) transactions should happen."