Financial institutions are challenged to ensure that a growing number of cash points – including branches, vaults, ATMs, smart safes, teller cash recyclers and other automated devices – are stocked with optimal cash levels and continuously available. The Cash Logistics Industry deals with the physical movement and storage of currency notes and other valuables on behalf of the banks. The highest priority for these companies is to ensure round the clock safety for their inventory – currency. Let’s take a peek into what is cash logistics all about, services offered, process and challenges faced.

• Varied standards/compromises adopted by different Cash Logistics companies
• Delays in reconciliation and dispute management
• No direct contact with the concerned bank during Cash Transfer Operation
• Mushrooming of new entrants without any credible financial net worth
• Lack of a roadmap on required process improvements or technology intervention (electronic locks etc.) that meets global standards

We Indians love to transact every business deal or purchase using currency. While effort is made by the government to popularize cashless transactions, it will take a while to change our habit and make a paradigm shift towards how we choose to make our payments for the goods and services we opt for.

With the expansion of banking operations to remotest part of India, the ATM network will expand exponentially. A huge section of our society still prefers to use cash as a medium for sale purchase of goods and services. With a population of more than 1.25 billion, India is one of the largest countries with huge ATM network. With such a huge magnitude of operations to open up in future, it is absolutely necessary to have strict procedures and processes for the cash logistics companies, along with the required infrastructure to carry out the operations. The cash handled, transported and stored by the cash logistics companies is public money and everyone associated has to ensure that these activities are carried out in a manner that is not detrimental to the interest of the public / depositors.