Regretting the hardship being faced by people across the country following the demonetisation of Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday asked people to have patience as it might take up to three weeks for all the 2,00,000 Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) to operate normally.
“It may take up to three weeks for all the 2,00,000 ATMs to operate normally as each one has to be recalibrated individually to dispense the new-sized notes of Rs2,000 and Rs500, besides lower denomination currency of Rs100,” Jaitley told reporters here, adding that it would be a slow process as such a big cash replacement cannot happen in a mechanical way overnight.
The Finance Minister’s statement came at a time when people are facing a harrowing time exchanging their old scrapped notes, with banks running out of cash and most ATMs across the country not functioning or running short of cash.
When asked about the scenario, he said, “The ATMs could not have been calibrated before the announcement because of the need for secrecy. Thousands of people are involved in the recalibration exercise and secrecy could not have been maintained.”
He asked the people to realise the larger benefits of demonetisation for the nation’s economy in the long run. Calling the Government’s demonetisation drive a success, he said, “Around Rs2 lakh crore has been deposited in banks across the country till Saturday afternoon. The largest banker in the country, State Bank of India (SBI), saw deposits of Rs47,868 crore till the afternoon and the SBI’s deposits are around 20 per cent of the total deposits in all the banks in the country.”
The Government is also looking into sudden popping-up of money into zero-balance Jan Dhan accounts.
As far as public inconvenience is concerned, Jaitley assured that the RBI and banks have stacked up enough currency to replace the Rs14 lakh crore worth of old notes that have been declared invalid and said the Government was constantly monitoring the situation as it was a massive operation.
“As banks have been asked to remain open this weekend to cope with the rush, the Finance Ministry held a video-conference with top RBI officials to assess the emerging situation and coordinate currency distribution across the country,” he added.
In some parts of the country banks would remain closed on Monday on account of Guru Nanak’s Birthday. They will, however, remain open in Western and Southern India.
Jaitley urged people not to flock to banks to exchange the now-defunct notes and asked them to stagger it over the 50-day window provided by the Government for the purpose.
However, the new Rs500 note is available only in Delhi and Mumbai and the RBI has already started releasing soiled Rs100 notes to cope with the demand.
Trying to calm the people Jaitley said, “Once the money is available both in the system and more so in the banking system, the advantages of that to the economy and businesses will be far more. The capacity of the banks with all this additional capital to lend and support businesses is going to be far higher.”
As unexpected crowds have thronged banks, post-offices and ATMs, Jaitley said banks have expressed concern about managing crowds and also that some customers are asking for smaller denomination currency. “Even though large quantum of currency is available, in the given branch that particular choice may not be available. And therefore, I would appeal to people to take whichever currency is available rather than insist on a particular choice,” he said.
Hoping with the passage of time banks will service more people and the crowds will then start thinning, he said, “The RBI and banks are in readiness. The situation now is peaceful and there are long but very orderly queues. There is no limit on the number of times you can exchange currencies.”