MUMBAI/CHENNAI: More than two-thirds of ATMs continued to run dry across the country till Friday as banks chose to distribute cash to customers through branches rather than refill machines that could be accessed by all debit card holders.“We’re having irregular inflow of cash. But at best, in any given week, the number of ATMs active in the country has not crossed 30% or 66,000 ATMs,” said Sanjeev Patel, president, Confederation of ATM Industry (CATMI). According to CATMI, only 20% of 2.2L ATMs in the country are getting regularly loaded with cash, two months into demonetisation As against the Rs 7-8 lakh daily cash being loaded before demonetisation, banks are loading only Rs 2-3 lakh per ATM. “High networth individuals are able to walk into banks and withdraw as much as Rs 24,000, even as people stand in long queues outside ATMs,” said Navroze Dastur, managing director, NCR Corporation, India and South Asia. “Banks will be able to service 10 customers at an ATM for the same money they service one customer at the bank,” Dastur added.Compared to the average of 10 withdrawals that banks mange through tellers in an hour, ATMs are able to manage twice the number. According to operators, among banks, SBI is the only one that has been consistently refilling ATMs while private banks are choosing to move most cash to their branches. “ATMs are a more efficient way of dispensing currency.While on one hand bank staff are overworked and face stress due to long queues of people waiting to withdraw cash, most ATMs are running idle as there’s no money,” said Mani Mamallan, founder MD of Electronic Payment and Services that manages ATM networks for several public sector banks. ATM operators have no clarity on whether the RBI will relax the ATM withdrawal limits from Monday.“The only positive news is that we are seeing an improved supply of Rs 500 notes,” said Dastur.