Despite UPI’s success…Cash continues to be king

At a time, when transactions through Unified Payment Interface or UPI are growing at a tremendous clip of 40%, the demand for cash hasn’t gone down at all. In fact, the value of transactions is on the rise.

A recent report by CMS Info Systems — which provides logistics and technology solutions to banks, among others — said that the monthly average cash withdrawals from automated teller machines (ATMs) rose about 6% year-on-year (YoY) in FY24 to Rs 1.43 crore per ATM, from Rs 1.35 crore in FY23.

On a monthly basis, the average ATM cash withdrawals in FY24 were higher compared to FY23, with withdrawals in 10 out of 12 months exceeding the FY23 monthly average of 7.23%.From a longer four year perspective, cash withdrawal from ATMs rose from Rs 28.78 trillion in FY21 to Rs 32.42 trillion in FY24, according to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data compiled by FE. The overall number of ATMs and cash recycling machines (CRMs) on branch site and off-site have also risen from 2.10 lakh in FY20 to 2.18 lakh in FY24. The micro-ATMs, meanwhile, have grown exponentially from 5.43 lakh in FY21 to 17.55 lakh in FY24.