Long wait, yet no money for most people

The woes of demonetisation continue to stalk people, as banks ran out of cash by forenoon on Friday. And, customers will have to wait till Monday, as banks said they had not received any instruction to work this weekend.

By 11.a.m, a public sector bank in Krishnagiri town had run out of cash even to fulfil the 90 tokens issued at the start of the day. Customers who had waited early on were turned away. Far from the promise of Rs.24,000 withdrawal per person, per week, the banks were barely able to disburse anywhere between Rs.3,000 to Rs.5,000, all through the week.

The customers of public sector banks were the worst hit in view of their large customer base. A highly-placed bank official told

The Hindu there was no cash with any of the banks, and any further transaction will take place only after cash arrives from the RBI. This was the case throughout the State, the official said.

A few private banks appeared to be meeting the demand, presumably owing to a niche customer base. This was evident in their appearing to meet the upper withdrawal limit.

Incidentally, ICICI Bank had opened some 80 accounts since demonetisation, a number of which is otherwise a two-month average for the bank.

According to a bank official, 80 savings bank accounts were opened to enable customers make deposits. Also, the bank’s initial account on cash deposit of Rs.20,000 was reduced to Rs.1,000 to enable new accounts, said the official.

It is unlikely any of the public sector banks could have opened accounts, since the entire staff was deployed for currency exchange and deposits, a senior bank official said.

No other transaction or banking operation was possible during the period. However, for some private banks, with clear demarcation of operations, new accounts may have been opened, said the official.

In the mean time, of the estimated 330 ATMs in the district, 60 per cent were in the process of being recalibrated. But, they had no cash to dispense.