MUMBAI: Long queues in front of the ATMs (Automatic Teller Machines) are not necessarily due to lack of currency supply alone, but banks, which get the supplies from the Reserve Bank, are hoarding the cash themselves to service their own customers instead of putting them in the vending machine, say executives.Companies which manage the ATM network of the country and transport cash say that they are receiving less than 10% of the currency that is being supplied into the system by the Reserve Bank of India . That hoarding at the bank level is holding back ATMs getting replenished even though most of the 2.2 lakh ATMs have been recalibrated to dispense new currency notes.The government, which has been driving banks to ease the pain of the citizens, warned banks not to indulge in such practices and directed them to be fair by making cash available at ATMs.Economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das said the practice of banks servicing own customers ahead of common interest through replenishing ATMs is prevalent. “Larger number of ATMs are working,” said Das. It is not correct that only 13% ATMs are working. Have advised banks to focus on loading money in ATMs also.”More than a month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi banned the use of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes for transactions, there is not sufficient cash to replace the withdrawn notes. While the RBI may be deliberately reducing the cash availability to boost digital payments, banks are helping their preferred, priority customers with cash.“Initially we were not getting cash because there was a serious shortage of supply, but now supply has gone up significantly but the ATM network of the country is still running dry, because banks are keeping the cash with their branches and not giving to us,” said an official from a company which manage a major ATM network, but who did not want to be identified.Industry sources say that the larger banks in the country are keeping 90% of the cash that they are receiving in their branches to be distributed only to their customers, with wealthier ones getting preference. A questionnaire sent to ICICI Bank State Bank of India and Axis Bank remained unanswered.“If they put money in the ATMs they fear that smaller bank customers will take away the cash, hence they are keeping it in their branches so that they can service their own customers,” said the person quoted above.As per data released by the Reserve Bank of India currency worth Rs 4.6 lakh crore has been released to the public through bank counters and ATMs between November 10 and December 10, which shows that around Rs 15,000 crore was pumped in every day. “Now the number has gone up beyond Rs 20,000 crore, still we are not getting our share to replenish the ATM network,” said an official with a cash logistics company. “This is causing the ATMs to remain empty,” he added.Further they said that instead of filling up ATMs with Rs 50 lakh which was the norm previously, now banks are not putting more than Rs 5 lakh per ATM. “This is causing most of the ATMs to get empty within few hours of starting service,” said one of the officials quoted above.