ATM limit lifted...weekly limit Rs 24,000

TT, Mumbai, Jan. 30: The RBI today lifted the restrictions on daily withdrawals from ATMs and curbs placed on current accounts but retained the weekly limit of Rs 24,000 applicable to savings bank accounts.

The relaxation on ATM withdrawals will come into effect from February 1.

The current daily limit of Rs 10,000 will not apply and up to Rs 24,000 can be withdrawn at one go if a particular card's limit exceeds that amount. However, once Rs 24,000 is taken out, another withdrawal can be made only after seven days.

The withdrawal limit of Rs 1 lakh per week on current account customers has been removed with immediate effect. This should come as a relief to small businesses that were badly hit by the demonetisation.

Bankers largely expect that the limits placed by RBI since the demonetisation to be completely lifted by the end of February or early March.

The RBI held out some hope for the savings bank account holders by saying that it would consider withdrawing the remaining restrictions in the "near future".

The RBI said it had also removed all limits on cash withdrawals from cash credit accounts and overdraft accounts.

The apex bank said banks had been "urged to encourage their constituents to sustain the movement towards digitisation of payments and switching over of payments from cash mode to non-cash mode".