Rs. 450 cr. deposited in a single day in Prakasam

November 11, 2016 12:00 am | Updated December 02, 2016 02:52 pm IST - ONGOLE:

Prakasam district on Thursday witnessed the surprising spectacle of more than 1.50 lakh people thronging the 400-odd bank branches to deposit over Rs. 450 crore on day one of business after the Centre demonetised Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes.

The average deposit per person was about Rs. 50,000 and the number of people visiting the branches to deposit cash was about three times more than that on any normal business day, explained lead bank district manager M. Narasimha Rao.

Usually about 50,000 people visit the branches and business people account for most of the deposits to the tune of Rs. 100 crore per day, he added. Facing a cash crunch, thousands of people, amid beefed up security, waited in long queues even before banks had opened for business in Ongole and elsewhere in the district to exchange the withdrawn currency notes.

With the authorities limiting the withdrawals to just Rs. 10,000 per person per day and Rs. 4,000 in the case of exchange of notes, only about Rs. 40 crore went out of the banks, the LDM added.

While in some places forms needed for the exchange of currency notes were in short supply, cash got exhausted in some of the branches, mostly in rural areas, disappointing the people standing in queues for hours together.

Supervising the bandobust arrangements for the big exercise at the State Bank of India main branch here as also other banks, Superintendent of Police C.M. Trivikram Varma said: “Everything went off smoothly, thanks to the media educating the public in advance.”

“Though we face problems in withdrawing cash, demonetisation is a welcome move,” said a retired teacher Anil Kumar waiting for his turn to exchange the withdrawn notes.

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