With thousands of people queueing up at banks and ATMs, bankers are reporting an acute shortage of Rs. 100 notes. A senior official of a public sector bank told The Hindu that banks are being inundated with the ‘unpopular’ Rs. 2000 notes while there is a shortage of the ‘popular’ Rs. 100 notes.
"Out of Rs. 40 lakh that a bank branch receives, around Rs. 2-3 lakh will be in Rs. 100 notes. We are forced to hand out the Rs. 2,000 notes. The problem is in the denomination of notes being sent and not a shortage of cash itself," he explained.
As a result, several banks have taken to rationing of Rs. 100 notes — prioritising their own customers before helping out those from other banks. “This means that sometimes, we cannot let customers withdraw cash as per the prescribed limit. We have to either give them the Rs. 2,000 notes or lesser cash," he added.
