Mumbai, Apr 14: Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the demonetisation drive on November 8 scrapping the use of old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes and the process of exchanging and depositing the banned currency ended on December 30. More than three months have passed, but the post-demonetisation woes continue to haunt aam aadmi in the country. It seems that cash crunch has made a comeback as ATMs have gone ‘out of cash’ in several parts of the country. The banks are giving excuse of shortage of cash provided by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Several ATMs in Mumbai, the financial capital of the country, seem to be running low on cash for the last one week. Long queues returned to the city and people rush one ATM to another to get cash. Since banks are reportedly running low on cash, many ATMs dispensed limited amount of money. An ATM at Andheri-Link Road dispensed only Rs 1,000 per customer, where in Thane the limit was set at Rs 2,500 in select banks, reported Times of India. Another report said ATMs near important places like hospitals and railway stations around the city has been non-functional for the last few days.
Similar reports came from Bengaluru, the IT hub of the country. Most ATMs has been non-functional for the last four days in Bengaluru. “We manage 173 ATMs of Canara Bank in Bengaluru and all of them have been closed. Only a few of ICICI Bank’s ATMs are dispensing cash,” Rajaram R, project manager, Financial Security Services, the agency managing ATMs of Canara Bank and ICICI Bank was quoted as saying.
Senior bank officials felt that the RBI is distributing limited amount of cash ahead of Digi Dhan Vyapar Mela, leaving banks cash-starved. “The emphasis will be on cashless transactions after Digi Dhan Vyapar Mela. The number of ATMs will drastically go down in the near future. We used to add at least 300 ATMs a year. Now, that won’t be done,” said Mahabaleswar M S, the newly appointed MD of Karnataka Bank told the daily.
Cashless ATMs are reminding people of the days of demonetisation period in November last year, when the Modi government’s sudden decision to ban high value currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 triggered cash crunch at both the bank branches and their respective ATMs.
