the goan I network
PANAJI
Banks recommenced operations on Thursday after remaining shut the previous day, but struggled to find adequate cash in the backdrop of a mad rush for exchanging old ` 500 and ` 1,000 currency notes following its demonetisation.
A senior manager of a public sector bank informed that his bank had disbursed more than ` 1 crore cash by 3 pm. An executive of a private sector bank said that nearly 800 customers turned up at the branch to either exchange or deposit old currency notes.
As people arrived in large numbers at the banks, some of them had to return home without any cash. Mukund Ingle said, “HDFC Bank told me that they had no cash. I had only ` 1,000 notes, which I deposited, but I couldn’t withdraw any.”
HDFC Bank had put up a notice outside 18th June Road branch around 2 pm which read that, they had already dispensed whatever cash they had.
Lack of adequate cash might have disappointed some customers, but staff at most of banks were extremely co-operative. For instance, State Bank of India’s (SBI) 18th June Road branch had two extra counters just to help people fill form required for exchanging old currency notes.
What also helped customers was the queue for depositing was not long, while that wasn’t the case at the counter to exchange old notes: it was really long.
