Beena Parmar Moneycontrol News
Seven months after the popular Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes were banned, cash logistics firms engaged in recalibration and replenishment of ATMs are still to be paid their dues.
At the peak of demonetisation, when supply of replacement currency at ATMs was running low, an army of 50,000 people in 9,800 odd vans had worked around the clock to recalibrate and fill up the depleting cash machines. Sources tell Moneycontrol that the logistics companies are owed a sum of Rs 93 crore by banks, only some of whom have paid up.
"We have dues of about Rs 93 crore which are yet to come from most banks. Only five banks – ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Canara Bank and Bank of India have made the payments so far," sources said.
NSG Rao, Secretary General, Cash Logistics Association (CLA) has called for a meeting of all 10 member companies on July 13 to raise the issue of unpaid bills and take it up at the right level.
“After over six months, most banks are yet to settle the dues for the services provided by the cash logistics companies. Some banks have refused to pay and there is no reason given. Our boys have worked day and night for several days during demonetisation but now that the job is over,” Rao said.
After the sudden announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8 last year, the RBI and government had directed banks to make the required compensation. The cash logistics firms claim they were supposed to get Rs 4000 per ATM. About 1.50 lakh ATMs were recalibrated and filled up.
Cash logistics firms typically ferry their security vans from banks to ATMs along with two armed security guards to protect the money. During demonetisation, they had to make multiple visits and work for about 12-18 hours daily.
However, banks have refused to accept the claims saying they do not have any contract with those firms but deal with managed service providers (MSPs) which act as middlemen between banks and cash logistic firms.
State Bank of India (SBI), which was heading a task force on this issue, said they have made their payments to the MSPs.
“We have no contractual obligation with the cash logistic firms. The bills raised by the MSPs have been paid for…but no other invoices have come to us which we have not settled,”Neeraj Vyas, Deputy Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of SBI told Moneycontrol.
Till 2000, the firms dealt with banks directly and then MSPs came in to act as middlemen and banks started dealing with MSPs, who are typically ATM operators.
Rao, however, said the cash logistics firms have submitted all invoices pertaining to services provided by them during demonetisation to the MSPs.
Moneycontrol spoke to one of MSPs, NCR Corporation. Its Managing Director Nazroz Dastur said, “We have not got any bills from the cash logistics firms. The deal was with the banks and cash logistic firms. No payments are due from our side.”
However, amidst the compensation fight, ATMs are still facing cash crunch and Rao said banks are only fulfilling about 40-50 percent of the indent demand and hence some ATMs are still running dry in select regions of metros and many smaller cities.
RBI claims to have remonetised nearly 83 percent of the currency till June first week and has denied any shortage of cash in the system.
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