Press Trust of India The currency crunch seen in many parts of the country in the past few days showed signs of easing on Thursday, with 86 per cent of ATMs coming online, cash being transported to deficit areas and government presses working overtime to print new notes, officials said.

State Bank of India Chairman Rajnish Kumar said the problem would be resolved by Friday.

“It is not a uniform cash crunch problem. It is there in geographies like Telangana and Bihar. We are hoping that the problem will be resolved by tomorrow because cash is in transition and it is reaching these States by this evening,” SBI’s Kumar told reporters here.

Government officials said that with special arrangements being made to transport cash to areas that faced an “unusual spurt in demand” during the last three days, 86 per cent of the 2.2 lakh ATMs were operational, dispensing cash. On Wednesday, 80 per cent were operational and just 60 per cent were working on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, All-India Banks Employees Association (AIBEA) has threatened to launch an agitation saying bank staff was facing public anger due to the cash crunch. It blamed the government and the RBI for the situation.

The shortage has been blamed on inadequate availability of ₹2,000 currency notes, which sources in the government said could be because of hoarding ahead of elections.

Not configured for ₹200

Also, ATM cassettes had not been configured to dispense ₹200 notes, which are smaller.

An official said the government has ramped up printing of currency notes and is operating all the four presses 24x7. The presses this week have been minting ₹500 and ₹200 notes without a break to meet an estimated ₹70,000 crore of currency shortfall in the country.

On an average, the four presses of the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd (SPMCIL) operate for 18-19 hours daily with a 3-4 hour break. But since the time ATMs ran dry, the presses are operating 24X7, the official told PTI.

Such overtime printing was last seen post demonetisation, when the printing of new ₹2,000 notes was fast-tracked to meet the liquidity shortage in the market.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had on Tuesday stated that there is sufficient cash in its vaults and currency chests. “Nevertheless, printing of the notes has been ramped up in all the 4 note presses.”

Holding those hoarding cash accountable, Kumar said the money should be recycled, meaning that if people withdraw money from the bank, money needs to be deposited back as well.

“If we (people) hold everything, then whatever supply we (banks) do, it will be insufficient for the country. So it is important that the currency is also recycled,” he said.

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