ATMs reduce in India in FY25; fueled by shift to digital payments: RBI

The number of ATMs in the country declined as people shifted digital payments. The e-payments network reduced customers’ need for cash withdrawals, even as bank branches continued to expand, a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report said.Private banks led the contraction, cutting their ATM network to 77,117 from 79,884, while public sector banks reduced their count to 133,544 from 134,694, mainly by shutting down offsite machines, according to the report cited by ANI. In contrast, white label ATM (ATMs set up, owned and operated by non-banks) operators expanded their presence, with the number of machines rising to 36,216 from 34,602.Public sector banks maintained a relatively balanced distribution of ATMs across rural, semi-urban, urban and metropolitan areas. Private and foreign banks, however, continued to concentrate their ATM networks largely in urban and metropolitan centres.Meanwhile, bank branches grew by 2.8 per cent to around 164,000, driven by a sharper expansion by public sector banks. More than two-thirds of the new branches opened by public sector banks were located in rural and semi-urban areas, compared with 37.5 per cent of new branches added by private banks.Basic savings bank deposit accounts continued to register steady growth, rising by 2.6 per cent to 72.4 crore accounts. Balances in these accounts increased by 9.5 per cent to Rs 3.3 lakh crore, with most accounts being operated through business correspondents, underlining their role in expanding banking access at the grassroots level.On deposit insurance, the report said 97.6 per cent of accounts remained covered under the existing Rs 5 lakh insurance limit at the end of FY25. However, the coverage ratio for insured deposits declined marginally to 41.5 per cent from 43.1 per cent in the previous year.The RBI attributed the decline in ATM numbers to the increasing digitalisation of payments, noting that it has reduced customers’ requirement to transact through ATMs.