Note ban: No respite from long queues at banks

Banks are still struggling to manage long queues as cash starved customers throng branches to get valid currency notes.
To meet the demand, branches are resorting to cash rationing as they are getting less than their requirement from currency chests.
However, situation at many ATMs is getting better with increased cash availability.
RBI yesterday said the amount of cash that various banks have issued through their counters and ATMs since November 10 and up to December 10 stood at Rs 4.61 lakh crore.
“The entire system is continuously gearing up for supporting the circulation of notes in the hands of the public. Daily, we are issuing more and more notes, getting it printed and issuing it and this will be a continuous affair,” RBI Deputy Governor R Gandhi said.
Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal said the exact amount of deposits can be ascertained after reconciliation of data.
Banks are yet to segregate fake currencies from the deposits they have got and there are issues of double counting of deposits of banks and post offices, he said, adding that these issues would be cleared after reconciliation takes place.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said everyday RBI is injecting a large amount of currency into the banking system as part of its remonetisation exercise.
“Significant amounts are going to be injected in next three weeks which are gradually bringing the pressure down. As more and more new currency comes into circulation, the recirculation itself in the banking system and ATMs will make more currency available,” Jaitley had said.
Meanwhile, bank unions are demanding that RBI should take steps to supply adequate cash to all banks and details of notes supplied to banks “should be announced publicly by RBI on a daily basis”.

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