Bengaluru: The city witnessed police personnel deployed at banks carefully letting in only a handful of customers at a time, reduced withdrawal limits, closed ATM kiosks and irate customers were the scenes at the banks on Thursday, the first salary day since demonetisation came into force on November 8.
Prasanna Kumar, who was standing in a queue at a nationalised bank in Chamarajpet on Thursday morning, had been waiting for over an hour, but was yet to get into the bank. “The withdrawal limits at the bank have been archaic. On Wednesday, it was as low as Rs. 4,000. Today, they are giving Rs. 10,000, which is a bit better,” he said.
However, not all were lucky enough to get Rs. 10,000. A senior manager at another nationalised bank said that they had set a limit of Rs. 5,000, but had to close most of their branches by afternoon after running out of cash.
H. Vasudevamurthy, a salaried employee, could withdraw only Rs. 4,000 on Thursday. “In the first week, households have many expenses, like payments to house maid, newspaper vendor, milk vendor, cable operator and for groceries, which can be paid only through cash. All of us will have a huge issue this month,” he rued.
A senior banker with a nationalised bank said they have observed a spurt in customers who had never walked into a bank to withdraw money from their salary accounts. “For instance, our Vidhana Soudha branch had never seen any huge withdrawal. But today, we had to shut it down by afternoon as we ran out of cash,” he said adding that this was the trend across banks and centres.
Blame empty ATMs
Most ATM kiosks are recalibrated, but have not been replenished with cash, as banks focus on servicing branches. “Even earlier, people were withdrawing money from their salary accounts. But mostly through ATMs. Now that ATMs are out of cash, they are turning up in banks,” a senior banker said.
People hoarding cash
Ask for lower denomination notes, chances are that you will get a heavy bag of Rs. 10 coins. The RBI counter on Nrupatunga Road has been issuing Rs. 10 coins in exchange for old notes. Renuka, a senior citizen, got two bags of Rs. 10 coins on Thursday when she went to exchange Rs. 2,000 in old currency.
Banks are also dispensing Rs. 10 coins to customers who insist on lower denomination notes. “Up to now, few customers wanted the coins. The RBI seems to be using the cash crunch to push the coins,” said a senior banker.
People have begun hoarding cash instead of depositing it in their accounts, fearing withdrawal limits. “We are only getting old high denomination notes. Not a single new note has come back to us, aggravating the cash crunch. Even lower denomination notes are hard to come by,” said a senior official of a public sector bank.
Bankers dreading Saturday
Bankers predict that this Saturday will be one of the toughest for them. While they will be working, RBI will be closed for the day, leading to a severe currency crunch.
“Only SBI will have currency while others depend on RBI for their needs. Even RBI officials have been expressing their inability to provide sufficient currency and are rationing what is available,” said a senior official of a public sector bank.
