Cash Deposit Machines To Be Non-Functional For Six Weeks

Mumbai: In another jolt to bank customers, the Cash Deposit Machines (CDMs) are expected to be non-functional for at least six weeks.

Following demonetisation, customers have been rushing to the banks to deposit their old currency notes. In this situation, the CDMs provided a major relief as people could avoid the process of filling forms and standing in queues to deposit cash. With a swipe of their debit card, they could deposit cash in the CDMs. However, with the introduction of the new Rs 2,000 notes, it has become imperative to recalibrate these machines, say ATM manufacturers.

Compared to ATMs, the recalibration of CDMs is a time consuming and lenghty process, CEO of ATM maker NCR Corporation Navroze Dastur said. Software upgrades to detect different kinds of fake notes have to be incorporated into the machines, he said and added that the different size of the new Rs 2,000 notes is also a challenge.

The over 30,000 CDMs are receiving huge patronage from customers and banks have been installing them at ATM centers and at bank braches. Besides ease of use, the CDMs update all successful transactions to the customer's account immediately. They can count the notes, verify denomination, quality and authenticity and do everything that a bank teller can.

“Before the CDMs start accepting new currency, the developers need to come to India and programme the machines to identify the new notes. The bigger challenge is getting the machine to learn what is a fake note,“ said Sunil Udupa, MD, Securens Systems,

These machines have been imported from international manufacturers -Wincor Nixdorf, NCR, Diebold and OKI. Their engineers will need to come and reset the machines. Until they are reconfigured, the machines can be used only for the Rs 50 and Rs 100 notes, which continue to be legal tender.