ATM deployers may get a boost...

The figure is nearly a sixfold increase over the preceding comparable period. This is also more than the 225,000 ATMS set up between Demonetisation in November 2016 and the current tally of 260,000.

In effect, the report of the Committee to Review the ATM Interchange Fee Structure is back in play. The RBI had constituted the committee to give a fillip to ATM deployment in unbanked areas. The panel, headed by Indian Banks’ Association’s then chief executive officer V G Kannan, had submitted its report to the banking regulator on October 22, 2019. "We expect the revisions to come through once the new government is sworn in (after the 2024 general elections)," said a source.

The interchange fee was raised to ~17 from ~15 for financial transactions and to ~6 from ~5 for non-financial transactions, effective August 1, 2021. But the current interchange fee at ~17 is lower than ~18 in 2012, when it was cut to ~15.

“Costs have gone up because of rentals, fuel costs, cash-loading charges, and adherence to the Ministry of Home Affairs' security protocols,” said an industry veteran. The RBI'S decision to withdraw ~2,000 currency notes from circulation has also led to more trips to load ATMS with cash.

The Kannan Committee had batted for a review of interchange and customer ATM usage charges at stipulated intervals to be decided by the RBI to do away with cost-linked logjams.

While the industry was ready to settle for an interchange fee of ~20, some say this may now have to move up to ~23 to adjust for cassetteswap costs. Cassette swaps are a lockable mechanism that does away with open cash replenishment The Kannan Committee had pointed out that implementing cassette swaps could add 15 per cent in additional costs. And, “if cassette swap is to be implemented, then a commensurate increase in ATM usage charges and ATM interchange should be considered appropriate,” it said. Incidentally, nearly a year after the rollout of cassette swaps at ATMS was set in motion, it remains only on paper. The four-phased plan across 30 cities was to cover the entire network of 260,000odd ATMS in the country by FY24. Another extension – the fourth in a row — may now be sought from the RBI. The idea of cassette swaps at ATMS came up six years ago (April 2018) and the first deadline was FY21. only commodity class that significantly lost cargo in the last year. For GCTS developed on non-railway land, operators construct their terminals after obtaining approvals from various authorities, and for those fully or partially on railway land, the land parcels are identified by Railways, and the GCT operator for construction and operation of the terminal is selected through open bidding, based on terminal access charges.

The investor bears the entire capital cost for building infrastructure and maintenance, while the national transporter maintains ownership. GCT operators can develop infrastructure facilities and provide value-added services such as warehousing, processing, and packaging.

According to Railways estimates, every new GCT has the potential to increase rail freight volumes by 1 million tonne (mt) per annum, which translates into a additional ~100 crore for the Railways.

The terminals — many of which are owned by freight forwarders — will play a major role in the Railways plan to move towards domestic containerisation of goods.

Currently, the traffic that Railways carries in the container segment primarily caters to the EXIM sector, with domestic containers moving largely through road transport. For various types of volume-based goods, the Railways uses different kinds of wagons.