It was a repeat of Thursday at banks on the second day of exchanging demonetised Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes in the northern districts.
Only the lines were longer. At banks with on-site ATMs, there were two separate queues — one for exchange of scrapped notes and the other for withdrawing cash from ATMs.
There were long lines and heavy crowds at almost all nationalised banks, especially the State Bank of India and the State Bank of Travancore, as well as private banks such as Federal Bank, ICICI, HDFC, and South Indian Bank in Kozhikode on Friday. However, compared to Thursday, the lines were orderly, and people more patient and less confused. This was primarily because they were already aware of the likely rush. The banks too had streamlined their operations anticipating the rush and demands from customers.
Promise only on paper
However, most banks failed to stand up to their promise of easy withdrawal of cash from ATMs. Very few ATMs, mostly the on-site ones, could not deliver cash. The other ATMs, which are managed and serviced by hired agencies, did not provide cash, much to the anger and frustration of customers. On-site ATMs too ran out of cash frequently, making customers wait in lines until they were replenished. ATMs could provide only Rs.2,000, that too in Rs.50 and Rs.100 denominations.
The queues at the SBI and the SBT were much longer than those at other nationalised banks. The queues at private banks were relatively small. Some banks provided tea, coffee, and drinking water to those waiting in queues. A nationalised bank manager told The Hindu that he expected the rush to be more on Saturday and Sunday when all banks would be functioning.
