MUMBAI: Indian consumers appear to show zero loss of appetite for cash despite New Delhi’s numerous efforts to wean them away from currency notes and get them to transact digitally.Indians are still withdrawing money from ATMs , or automated cash dispensers, and the demand for currency notes has only increased since demonetisation , going by the latest data on ATM replenishment and cash in circulation.Currency in circulation in India in the fortnight to July 5 was Rs 21.1 lakh crore, as against Rs 18.7 lakh crore in the same period last year, translating into growth of 13%.In FY20 so far, Rs 57,000 crore worth of new currency has been added by way of fresh notes.To push the country toward a less-cash economy and hold down the use of currency notes for payments, the government introduced a raft of budget initiatives, such as compulsory digital payments option at all major merchant points and additional tax cess on large-ticket cash payments.An analysis of transactions data for 53,000 automated teller machines, sourced by ET from cash management company CMS Info, shows that demand for cash has particularly gone up in states with lower literacy rates and higher migrant population density. The data source covers more than a fourth of India’s total ATM fleet.In June, Uttar Pradesh ATMs saw the highest cash replenishments, closely followed by Odisha, Karnataka, New Delhi and West Bengal, data from ATMs managed by CMS Info showed. On average, an Uttar Pradesh ATM in this month saw cash demand of Rs 1.36 crore against Rs 1 crore in April 2015 — meaning growth of over 30% since the predemonetisation period.Similarly, in Odisha and West Bengal, the latest average ATM cash demands were at Rs 1.35 crore and Rs 1.32 crore, respectively, in June. Cash replenishment rate at ATMs can be used as a proxy for cash demand in these geographies as the replenishment rate is a factor of volume and value of transactions.“Typically, we have noticed that states with high migrant density and low literacy rates see higher cash demands,” said a CMS Info spokesperson.“States with better development and difficult geographical terrains typically see lower cash replenishment.”Goa, Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Tripura were among the states with least cash demand at ATMs, the data showed.The government in November 2016 had introduced a cash swap policy that invalidated all Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, and replaced them with new bills of Rs 200, Rs 500, and Rs 2,000 denominations.