People continue to throng banks to deposit old currency notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 into their accounts.
Meanwhile, there has been no let-up in the crowds waiting at ATMs to withdraw cash.
While banks continue to witness a relentless stream of people, a senior bank official in Vellore said: “We are making indents to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) but there is short supply of cash. The amount given by the RBI is lower than what we ask, and it gets exhausted the same day,” he said.
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The bank official added that the RBI was providing cash in the denomination of both Rs. 100 and Rs. 2,000. As of now, public cannot exchange the demonetised currency of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes over the counter but can only remit the cash into their bank accounts, he said.
He said the situation might ease once the new notes of Rs. 500 are supplied in bulk. “The new Rs. 2,000 has come into circulation. When the new Rs. 500 is supplied and is sufficiently circulated, the financial situation will improve. Major banks in the district such as Indian Bank, the State Bank of India, and the Indian Overseas Bank have not received the new notes of Rs. 500 denomination,” he said.
Another bank official said they were providing lower denomination of Rs. 10 and Rs. 20 notes to customers. “Although Rs. 100 notes are less in number, we continue to distribute the notes to customers. As of now, people can withdraw Rs. 24,000 from their account per week,” he said.
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Post offices struggle
However, post offices are facing cash crunch. “There is not much crowd at post offices. We are unable to provide cash to those who want to withdraw from their accounts. This is because cash supplied to us is less,” an officer said.
Faced with cash shortage, the officer said, for instance, if the need was Rs. 2 crore a day, they were getting Rs. 10 lakh from bank. “We are catering to the cash requirements of customers depending on the flow of cash,” the officer said.