The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday announced that it would be releasing a new addition of lavender coloured 100 rupee denomination notes bearing the signature of current RBI Governor Urjit Patel. In the press release statement RBI mentioned the dimension of the new notes to be 66 mm x 142 mm, which is significantly smaller than the existing one, which measures 73 mm x 157 mm.
The process of re-calibrating of 2,40,000 automated teller machines (ATM) across the country might take more than a year and would cost a whopping amount of one billion rupees.
ATM players were not consulted about the move and they received the news via media platforms, said a representative of the Confederation of ATM Industry (CATMI).
A senior government official said, “This is the fifth new banknote size to be issued by the central bank since demonetisation in November 2016 and is different from the sizes of both Rs 200 and Rs 2,000. We have started the production of the new notes in Devas and will start in other mints soon.”
Sanjeev Patel, managing director, Tata Communications Payment Solutions said,“There are four cassettes in every ATM. The different dimensions of the Rs 100 note will mean that two cassettes will be used for a single denomination, leaving only two cassettes for the higher denomination notes. This will reduce the cash carrying capacity of ATMs and it will also increase the cost of carrying cash for ATM operators but could also cause a cash crunch.”
Also Read: Take a look at the new lavender coloured 100-rupee notes
“The pace of the roll-out depends on the demand for Rs 100 notes in various parts of the country, and it is one of the most demanded denominations. It also depends on the old Rs 100 notes, which come back to RBI chests. A lot of these notes will be put back into circulation. We don’t want to extinguish them till there are enough of the new notes in circulation,” an official was quoted saying.
There could be a possible cash crunch in the marker if the flow of the new denomination is not smooth, and it does not match the number of cassettes being re-calibrated.
Radha Rama Dorai, managing director, ATM & allied services, FIS, a payments service provider said,“There is a likelihood of an imbalance between the supply of the new notes and the withdrawal of the old notes, especially in the hinterland. If the supply of the new currency is unable to fill the gap created by the withdrawal of the old currency, the dispensation of Rs 100 notes through ATMs will get affected till such time as the imbalance exists.”
The RBI started slow on new Rs 200 notes and has ramped up production in the last few months because of demand, and the same process would be followed for new Rs 100 notes, an official was quoted saying.