Campbell Bay, 04 Feb 2021
The residents of Great Nicobar had been facing a lot of issues because of non-functional ATM’s of both the Canara Bank (Erstwhile Syndicate Bank) and Andaman and Nicobar State Cooperative Bank.
The ATM of Canara Bank is non-functional because of a technical issue and the Andaman and Nicobar State Cooperative Bank ATM was dispensing cash only during the evening hours because of a cash crunch at their Campbell Bay Branch.
The residents of Great Nicobar can expect some relief today as according to Mr. Mahesh Rao, Bank Manager of Andaman and Nicobar State Cooperative Bank, Campbell Bay Branch, the bank has received cash today and their ATM will be fed two times a day now.
The Govt. Servants were the ones who were worst affected because most of them have their accounts in State Bank of India and other nationalised and private banks and they are totally dependent on the ATMs for all their cash needs. The locals anyhow manage their cash needs by withdrawing money from the bank branches.
Canara Bank, Campbell Bay Branch has been undergoing migration from Syndicate Bank and their ATM services are most likely affected by the same. Nicobar Times spoke to the Manager of Canara Bank, Campbell Bay Branch who informed that the ATM is non-functional purely because of technical reasons.
It is also a fact that the cash for the Bank Branches in Campbell Bay has to be brought from Port Blair since most of the time there is a huge difference between the total withdrawal and deposit of cash in Great Nicobar.
Andaman and Nicobar Administration had earlier tried to lay great emphasis on cashless mode of transactions but had to back down because of internet connectivity issues. The CANI Submarine Optical Fiber Cable Project has solved the issue of Internet Connectivity in the Great Nicobar along with most of the regions of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and now the telecom companies operating in the region are responsible to provide better telecommunication services to the Islanders. It is very important that improvement in the Mobile Data services are given priority by the telecom companies so that cashless transactions through QR code based payment apps and systems can be promoted. Further the improvement in Mobile Data connectivity will also be instrumental in adoption of POS technology by the businesses in the remote regions because broadband is costly and it puts an additional monthly monetary burden on the businesses.
It is the right time to move from a cash based economy to a digital economy and the shift will also help the banks in managing the cash crunch which they face today.
The technical issues that keep on affecting the ATMs are also a major issue in the remote Islands as the technicians are not readily available and have to travel all the way from Port Blair which is costly as well as inconvenient for the banks. Use of Neo Banking services provided by startups is the solution to the problem. The use of Neo Banking Platforms will enable each and every shop to provide services of an ATM and provide cash to the general public.
Innovative solutions needs to be introduced in the remote Islands like Great Nicobar to solve the issues being faced by the Islanders.
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