The daily cash withdrawal limit for State Bank of India's (SBI) customers will be reduced from the earlier Rs 40,000 limit to Rs 20,000. The new limit will come to effect from 31 October on 'Classic' and 'Maestro' platforms of the bank's debit cards.

According to an Economic Times report, the largest public sector bank in India has informed its offices to inform the customers of the same. It further said that the move was made on account of several complaints of fraudulent transactions at ATMs received this year. In addition, the bank wants to encourage digital and cashless transactions.

The 'Classic' card is the most used platform by the lender's vast reach of customers across the country. There have been cases of reported skimming of these cards by using unique tracing devices installed on ATMs by frauds to steal the PIN.

Despite several initiatives by the present government to encourage digital transactions, high withdrawal rates of cash continue to match the pre-demonetisation levels. By lowering the transactions amount, the bank hopes to minimise fraud, as a large number of withdrawals made are usually of smaller denominations. The bank has asked its branches to display the related message on its notice boards to keep the customers aware and plan their transactions accordingly.