But, it appears that it will be near impossible for banks to comply with these suggestions in 30 days time. The police had stressed that bank should start offering chip-based ATM card. Interestingly, the RBI had earlier given a deadline of December 31, 2015 to banks to make sure that all debit cards are chip-based.
Although some banks had started offering chip-based debit cards, most banks haven’t done so and the deadline has gone by. A source from a public-sector-bank in Goa, who didn’t wish to be named, said, “All new debit cards we are issuing are chip-based. But, there are so many old debit cards and there are crores of them, which are magnetic strip cards. We expect the holders of these cards to approach our bank so that we can replace them with new chip-based cards.”
The police had also suggested that security guards should check that no foreign object has been fitted in the ATM booths, when they report at work. Even this suggestion is not implementable in true spirit, the source said adding
“In reality, banks only have housekeeping staff guarding the ATMs and not security guards. This is evident as the housekeeping staff don’t really have a weapon.” But, banks haven’t made any efforts to educate their customers on the benefits of chip-based cards. Experts maintain that it is difficult in case of a chip-based debit card to steal data than a magnetic strip card.
From policy’s perspective, any decision to implement chip-based cards has to be taken by the head offices of banks, which are mostly in Mumbai or Delhi.
It must be noted that guards at a bank’s branch typically carry a gun, which isn’t the case with ATMs. Moreover, no law requires banks to have a housekeeping staff at ATMs. The source added, “Our bank’s management is thinking of cutting expense on staff guarding the ATMs because it does add to our costs”
It is actually true that banks often avoid keeping a guard at ATMs. Several ATMs in Panaji don’t have a guard at the booth.
