The manager of a nationalised bank near Cubbon Park stretches her hands while fatigue is apparent on her face. She has just recovered from fever and the demonetisation drive has seen her expend all the energy she has. “I pop tablets and come for work. After all, our customers and others should not be affected,” she says.
After nearly 10 days of continuous work, bankers across the city received a little respite on Saturday when exchange of old notes was restricted to senior citizens and the bank’s customers.
“Till Friday, we had been spending most of our time on exchanging money. But on Saturday, we could turn our attention to our regular transactions, such as opening bank accounts, attending to loan-related issues, foreign exchange, issue of cheque books and other transactions,” says a senior official from the State Bank of India.
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The restrictions resulted in smaller queues.
What this means, said a banker, is that they are now able to leave early and attend to their social lives, which had been in flux since the demonetisation.
However, on the outskirts where the density of banks and ATMs is lower, sizeable crowds continue to throng banks. “Till afternoon, we attended to 200 persons. Being a rural area, we have to spend more time explaining the rules,” says the manager of a public sector bank at Bagalur near the airport.
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Ink reduced queues?
With many more banks using indelible ink, the number of customers have reduced perceptibly. “Queues have reduced after fingers were inked,” says an official.
Now, an inked finger automatically leads to questions. When officials of a bank on Infantry Road looked at him suspiciously, R. Bhaskar, a private company employee, had to explain that he had returned with a query on loans.