Corporate employees have been able to manage the cash crunch post-demonetisation, thanks to better planning by managements and banks.

“Over the last 10 days, we were able to tide over the cash crunch as we have been able to draw a minimum of ₹2,000 per day with support from our management and banks,” an employee of Franklin Templeton told BusinessLine here.

HDFC Bank, which operates their salary accounts, ensured that a minimum of ₹6 lakh is deposited at nearby ATMs and tokens are issued to the employees.

“Whenever cash comes we take a break from work to go to the ATMs and are able to draw money without much hassles,” he said.

Banks are also deputing staff with point-of-sale (PoS) machines to offices with cash. “We are making two or three visits a week to corporate accounts to make things easier for staff to draw money without disrupting work,” said a zonal level official of ICICI Bank.

Apart from the PoS machines, micro-ATMs are also being put to good use. “At our factories and offices, we have been taking enough measures to distribute cash within acceptable limits by using micro-ATMs with support from banks,” said Chandrasekhar Sripada, Head-HR, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories.

To make things easier, private banks are also collaborating with other banks to ensure minimum supply of cash to staff of companies which maintain salary accounts.

Many IT companies are also disbursing vouchers/food coupons to staffers which could be used in select places as an alternative to cash.

But life continues to be tough for the common man, with no support from any quarter. Workers in the unorganised sector are the worst hit.

“We are facing a lot of problems as old ₹500 notes are also being given as part of our wages,” said Narasimha, a daily wage labourer involved in the construction of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandra Sekhar Rao’s new official residence in Begumpet here.

He does not have a bank account and exchanges the withdrawn ₹500 for ₹1,000 notes at petrol pumps.

Long queues continue to be seen at ATMs and banks branches. But for many of them the wait is in vain as most of the machines/branches run out of cash pretty fast.

comment COMMENT NOW