Now, you can withdraw money from the neighbourhood grocery--Business Line

SBI allows debit card holders to draw cash from stores with point-of-sale terminals

HYDERABAD, NOV. 24:

For State Bank of India’s 14-crore debit card holders, apart from ATMs, a new channel for withdrawing cash has opened up.

In a first-of-its-kind initiative, SBI is allowing cash withdrawal of up to Rs 1,000 from any shop/trader with a point-of-sale (PoS) terminal.

“A fee of Rs 7.50 will be charged to the customer, a part of which goes to the trader. Actually, it is a win-win situation for all,” Sadanand, a senior SBI official looking after ATMs and alternative channels told Business Line.

From a customer’s point of view, this will be yet another value-add on debit card as most business establishments, including some grocery stores, operate PoS machines.

From a trader’s point of view, it brings additional revenue of about Rs 5 per transaction.

“There are more benefits. As most traders have higher cash-flows, they showed preference to dispense some cash back into the system, reducing the need to deposit it back in banks,’’ the SBI official said.

From a bank’s perspective, this will reduce pressure on ATMs as people withdrawing smaller amounts might now prefer to do it from a next door grocery rather than going to ATM.

This would mean that frequency of replenishing ATMs with cash might come down for banks.

The idea of opening up PoS terminals for cash withdrawal was floated by the Reserve Bank of India a couple of years ago.

But it is gaining acceptance only now, with the increasing use of alternative channels by bank customers.

POS TERMINALS

While ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank are the leading providers of PoS terminals among private sector banks, SBI, with about one lakh terminals, is the leader among public sector banks as on June-end this year. The entire banking system has 10.5 lakh terminals and the number is growing fast.

It is in this context that the new facility to withdraw cash is appealing.

“In these days of plastic money, sudden requirement for liquid cash is sometimes inevitable.

“The facility is nice because while buying something on debit card, you can also withdraw petty cash,” M. Amala, a customer at Shoppers Stop here reacted when asked about the new facility.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/banking/now-you-can-withdraw-money-from-the-neighbourhood-grocery/article5386878.ece