After an agonising wait that “seemed to prolong endlessly”, customers of select banks in Thanjavur city on Tuesday got hold of the new Rs. 500 currency notes that many believe could ease the cash crunch.
However, many ATMs continued to display `Out of Order’ signboards compounding the woes of the public who are yet to get the required money flow despite easing of withdrawal restrictions.
When the Central Government announced the demonetisation of Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 500 currency notes, the introduction of Rs. 2,000 currency notes eased the situation a bit. But many who had got the new Rs. 2,000 notes found that they could do little with that high denomination and demand for short change zoomed.
The hardships for the public multiplied with ATMs running out of cash soon after being refilled and many ATMs remaining out of order for days on end. Now there is little crowd before the ATMs as they either sport `Out of Order' signboard or dispense only the `unwanted’ Rs. 2,000 currency.
``At last the seemingly endless wait has ended as we got new Rs. 500 currencies from our bank branch. It was a pleasant surprise for many of my fellow customers who were waiting in the queue to withdraw money. We were given only two new Rs. 500 notes per transaction per person but that will definitely ease the cash crunch a lot in the days to come,'' remarked a house maid Samundeeswari of Pon Nagar in Thanjavur.
Banking circles told The Hindu that the Reserve Bank of India usually transfers the currency to the cash chests with the respective banks in the districts from where the banks record the withdrawals they make from time to time. Large banks such as the State Bank of India has more than one cash chest for example in Pattukkottai and Kumbakonam among others apart from Thanjavur. From there the banks are free to load the cash in their ATMs.
However, with only minimal quantum of Rs. 500 currency arriving in the first lot on Monday, banks were keen to disburse the fresh currency notes to customers. To ensure that all customers had access to the new note, the banks themselves restricted the numbers to two a person as of now. When the next tranche of fresh Rs. 500 currency notes arrive in two or three days, the ATMs would start dispensing the notes, the sources said adding that the liquidity crunch being experienced now would ease considerably then.
