Banks face cash crunch, seek RBI Rs 300 crore immediately

NASHIK: Both nationalised and private banks in Nashik went dry by Wednesday evening, promoting them to request the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to provide them with Rs 300 crore at the earliest. The RBI has the banks that “adequate cash” have been sent to them and the amounts were supposed to reach by Wednesday night.
Moreover, new notes of Rs 500 denomination are being sent by the RBI to banks, which are likely to be issued to customers from Thursday.And amid all this, people’s suffering continued as there was no improvement in the supply of lower currencies such as Rs 10, 20, 50 and Rs 100.
People thronged the banks on the seventh day since the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 to deposit, exchange and withdraw cash. However, nearly 80% of ATMs in the city are still dry.
A senior official from a nationalised bank said, “The banks are facing a cash crunch and they don’t have adequate notes for people. Almost all notes available with the banks were issued to the people on Wednesday. An urgent meeting of senior officials from all nationalised banks in the district was held with RBI in Mumbai on Wednesday. The banks demanded RBI to provide Rs 300 crore immediately. The RBI said adequate cash has been sent to banks and they would get by Wednesday night.”
He added, “New currency notes with denomination of Rs 500 are also being sent by RBI, which may be issued to people on Thursday.”
Prashant Sonatake, assistant general manager of the State Bank of India’s main branch here, said, “There is no end to the rush of people for depositing, exchanging and withdrawing cash at the bank. The RBI has pledged to provide adequate cash. The situation is expected to become normal soon.”
Besides the common people, traders have been badly hit because of the ongoing crisis. Many retailers now have started providing card payment facilities to their customers to overcome the currency situation. Speaking to TOI, Prafulla Sancheti, president, Nashik City Traders’ Federation (NCTF), said, “Many retailers have started accepting debit and credit card facility from the customers in view of the scarcity of currency notes. There is still shortage of lower currencies with denominations upto Rs 100 as the banks have provided currency notes with denomination of Rs 2,000. But there have been improvement to some extent. Business has improved by up to 50%. The banks need to focus on providing lower currencies at the earliest.”
Rajiv Daga, a retailer, said, “Business is improving gradually, but there is still effect of 40%. Earlier, there had been cash flow, which we are missing. We have recovered our business up to 60%, but there is scarcity of lower currency notes.”