Bharath Varma, a resident of SR Nagar, Hyderabad, had a tough time to get cash as most of the ATMs in his locality had displayed “out of service” or “no cash” boards on Tuesday.
“I searched nearly 20 ATMs before managing to withdraw some money,” he said.
Crisis in AP
Andhra Pradesh has been reeling under severe shortage of currency with some ATMs being filled with cash only once a month in some places. While most ATMs are always dry, customers are being asked to wait for hours together to withdraw few thousands in branches of public and private banks. They have placed restrictions on withdrawals as well. For instance, a notice kept at SBI’s branch in Osmania University reads: “Due to shortage of currency, withdrawals beyond ₹10,000 is not permitted.’’ However, when one goes inside the branch, they are being given even lesser amount.
While agreeing that there is a shortage of currency, J Swaminathan, Chief General Manager, SBI-Hyderabad circle, identified higher withdrawals by customers as one of the possible reasons. “Hyderabad had seen the second largest currency deposits after Delhi after demonetisation of 2016 and the RBI had fully remonetised currency to that extent. There should be no cash crunch but still it is there as customers are withdrawing more than they need,’’ he said.
‘Enough cash’ in Bengaluru
In Bengaluru, a local official of the ICICI Bank said there was a cash crunch for a couple of days but it has now been rectified. “Most of our ATMs now have enough cash for disbursal,” the official told BusinessLine .
The response from the officials of public and private sector banks in Tamil Nadu was a mixed one. While a top official in an old private sector bank pointed out that circulation of currency notes was little lower than normal level, public sector bankers denied any shortage whatsoever. “Cash withdrawals are happening in our ATMs as per the normal levels. On an average, all our ATMs dispense currencies to the tune of ₹150-160 crore per day. Today also, we are seeing normal level of cash withdrawals. We have not faced any issue of cash shortages,” MK Bhattacharya, Executive Director, Indian Bank, told BusinessLine . “We see a continuous flow of currency not only to ATMs, but also to business correspondents and others. Withdrawals are slightly higher in semi-urban areas, but in other centres the daily withdrawals are at the same level,” he added.
No problem: IOB chief
Asked about cash shortages at ATMs, R Subramaniakumar, Managing Director & CEO, Indian Overseas Bank, said: “I don't think it is a problem, as of now, for us” .
While in some States, 30-40 per cent of cash in ATMs have gone dry in the last one week, in Tamil Nadu it is only 3-4 per cent, said V Balasubramanian, Merchant & Terminal Business, FSS, a Chennai-based payment services provider. The shortage of cash in ATMs is not in a particular location but spread across Tamil Nadu. FSS maintains nearly 40,000 ATMs across the country, including 3,000 in Tamil Nadu. “We are a bit worried... if panic sets in people will start flocking to ATMs to withdraw more cash. We are keeping our fingers crossed,” he said.
Bengal not affected
The reported shortage of currency, which seems to have hit several parts of the country including Maharashtra, Gujarat and Bihar, has not seen any impact in West Bengal, senior bank officials said. According to CS Ghosh, MD and CEO, Bandhan Bank, the bank has enough cash and is not facing any issues of currency shortage, particularly in Bengal.
“There are reports of currency shortage in some States like Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. In Bengal we have not seen any such problem,” he said.
(With inputs from Bengaluru and Kolkata)