Cash crunch effect: Pay day brings hardly any cheer

AGRA: Pay day of the month has brought hardly any cheer to the salaried class this month due to the acute shortage of cash in both banks and ATMs.

On Wednesday, even though some people received salary in their accounts, most of them had to wait in serpentine queues outside banks and ATMs with hardly any luck. Most of the ATMs and banks ran out of cash by afternoon. Many workers in the city feel that the queues would only increase in the coming days with most people waiting to withdraw cash to pay monthly bills.

“It’ll be difficult for me to manage my monthly expenses. One can not use debit cards or credit cards everywhere. You still need some cash. With the crunch, I don’t know how long I’ll last. It’s sad that the situation is such even though I have cash with me,” said resident Gaurav Bhatia.

There were many who were waiting for their monthly pension money too.

Widow of a soldier, 65-year-old Raj Kumari Devi, 65 is one of the many people who are struggling to survive due to the

cash crunch

. “I used to go on the first day of every month to withdraw a large part of my pension to pay the monthly bills, such as, laundry, newspapers, cable TV, phone. What do I do this time? I am old and cannot stand in the long queues that are there outside banks these days. Even if I go, I will get a very limited amount, which the banks are giving these days. That will not solve my problem. I will have to call my son who works in Bhatinda. He will have to take leave from work and then try and help me withdraw my pension. There is no other way. I only have Rs 300 left with me and so many bills to pay”, she said.

The banks too are wary about the situation, but say that there is very little that they can do about it. “The pressure on banks is massive in the first week of every month as salaried and pensioners come to withdraw their money. This time, it is going to be a major problem. As it is, we are facing law and order issues at many branches”, said said Ravi Kant Singh, District Coordinator for Meerut, State Bank of India.

“What can we do? Banks don’t have cash. The demand is substantial”, said Avinash Tanti, lead bank manager, Meerut.

“Meerut has not received adequate cash from RBI. Banks had been using their cash reserves and managing situation somehow. But now they have run out of currency. I am concerned about the whole district. As per information provided to us, an RBI's currency vehicle will start from Kanpur tonight and reach Meerut tomorrow morning, I am sure things will become better then,” said B Chandrakala, District Magistrate, Meerut.

A highly placed source in the banking sector, told TOI that RBI is now sending soiled notes to banks for circulation. The RBI defines soiled notes as 'those which have become dirty and slightly cut'. They are the dirty, damaged and slightly torn notes which banks send back to the RBI, where they are destroyed because they are treated as ‘non-issuable tender’. “Due to the severe currency crunch and RBI’s lack of preparedness, these notes have to be put back into circulation. We are coming across notes with stains of dal and which smell like socks. There is not enough new currency even with the RBI, the public will have to make do with these”, the source added.