MUMBAI: State Bank of India (SBI) has halved cash withdrawal limit on its ATM cards ahead of the festival season citing fraud precaution as a reason. The existing daily cash withdrawal limit of Rs 40,000 under the bank’s classic and maestro cards have been reduced to Rs 20,000.

“In view of the increase in number of complaints received by the Bank around fraudulent transactions at ATMs, and to encourage digital/cashless transactions, it has been decided to decrease the cash withdrawal limits of Debit Cards,” the bank said in a statement.

SBI has asked all branches to inform customers of the changes as under the Banking Codes & Standard Board of India guidelines, at least 30 days notice has to be given to the customers for any change in terms and conditions or charges.


According to banking sources, SBI’s move to cut withdrawal limits will ease the burden on its cash logistics. In recent months banks are facing several new challenges in managing their cash logistics. The new series of 100 rupee notes requires the bank to recaliberate all its ATMs. In addition the central bank has come out with new guidelines on cash logistics requiring banks to use the cassette swap system for loading ATMs so that cash logistic companies do not need to handle cash.


Although SBI has 59,598 ATMs – the largest network in the country – it is also the largest issuer of debit cards with 28.90 crore ATM cards in circulation. The bank has nearly 4,849 debit cards issued as against every ATM it has which is higher than 3,000 cards per ATM for ICICI Bank or the average of 4,469 for the industry.