Customers snap as bankers quiz them on deposits

BAREILLY: Bankers said customers agitated over frequently changing RBI rules are now confronting them as they tried to enforce on Wednesday the recent notification, seeking to question those depositing over Rs 5,000 in old notes. The rule made public on Tuesday, much to their relief, was rolled back on Wednesday.
“Given the awkwardness of the process,” a bank official told TOI, “We didn’t expect straight answers from the customers who were asked rather odd questions after they had stood in queues at branches for hours.When we asked them why they didn’t deposit their notes so far, some of them told us their wives had hidden the money; some others said they just followed the PM’s advice of being patient and not add to the rush in the initial days.”
TOI visited over a dozen branches of public and private banks in Bareilly and saw customers losing their cool when bank officials asked them questions about their cash.
A visibly agitated customer at Bank of Baroda’s Subash Nagar branch in Bareilly said, “It’s my money and it is not black. Why am I being asked questions as if I have stolen somebody’s money?”
State Bank of India deputy general manager Sunil Kumar Wadera said, “The exercise is like adding fuel to the fire. Asking a customer who has stood in a queue for a long time questions about his cash and telling him to submit an undertaking is not the best foot forward.”
Bank of Baroda’s Izzatnagar branch head Kamal Kant Srivastava said, “We had no choice but to comply with RBI’s order. But we had a tough time explaining to our customers we couldn’t skip the process. An upset customer told us that bankers were deliberately holding on to cash and they were responsible for the people’s miseries.”
In a U-turn, the Reserve Bank on Wednesday again withdrew its rule that imposed restrictions on deposits of old notes worth more than Rs 5,000 before December 30.