For the first time in India, a facility has been provided for those without any bank account to withdraw cash from ATMs.
Bank of India launched this service termed as “Instant Money Transfer” wherein any person without any bank account or debit card can use their ATMs to withdraw cash instantly. This money transfer facility would surely be helpful for more than half of India’s population, who still doesn’t have any bank account.
Inside urban locations, this service would be highly beneficial for migrant workers and domestic helpers who doesn’t have any bank account or debit card.
The base of this service is mobile phones. The sender will use the receiver’s mobile phone details to transfer the cash using Bank of India’s ATM. Partial details would be sent across the receiver’s mobile.
The receiver will then be required to visit designated Bank of India ATM with ‘Instant Money Transfer’ facility and then use their mobile number and the partial details sent via SMS to withdraw cash without using any debit card or bank account.
This can be termed as another useful and innovative use of mobile phones to integrate technology and banking at the same time.
The sender can use ATM or Internet Banking facility to send across the money to the receiver.
As of now, a beneficiary can withdraw upto Rs 25,000 in a month using this facility while Rs 10,000 is the maximum limit for one-time withdrawal. Rs 25 per transaction would be charged to the sender while using Instant Money Transfer facility.
Bank of India Chairperson and Managing Director Mr. V R Iyer told reporters while launching this unique service, “This service is in line with the RBI’s expectation of expanding financial inclusion, wherein fund transfer can happen from account holders to those without accounts through ATMs,”
Last month, RBI Governor Mr. Raghuram Rajan had announced that they have approved a payment method wherein the cash transfer can be made possible without the requirement of a bank account for the receiver. He had said, “We have recently approved the in-principle setting up of a payment system which will facilitate funds transfer from bank account holders to those without accounts through ATMs,”.
RBI has clearly stated that all the necessary checks and validations would be completed before approving the transaction. The payment would be cleared on the basis of a unique code which will be sent via mobile phone to the recipient.
