The State’s largest lender the State Bank of India has itself received a total of ₹380 crore in the form of old denominations of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 between November 9 and November 15, sources have revealed.
Other large lenders including HDFC Bank, Bank of India and Corporation Bank have received a total of Rs 360 crore between them with Bank of India receiving around Rs 150 crore.
Officials could provide only estimated figures as the exact amounts are yet to be tallied with the bank staff now complaining that their chests are filled with old currencies as they are yet to be collected by the Reserve Bank of India.
“One of the biggest problems the banks are facing is to find place to safely and securely store the old demonetised currency until it is collected by the RBI which could be a while from now,” an official from the banking sector said.
Besides long working hours and hectic duties, the banks have now decided to seek the state government help to get police to man the ATMs given that the security guards have not been given a break since the last week.
“Several bank staff have been rearranged to help collect the demonetised currency. But the issue is about security guards who have also not been given a break. In view of this we have sought help from the government to get the police to guard the ATMs for a few days,” the bank official said.
The RBI had promised the State around Rs 600 crore in new currency, however, only around Rs 250 crore have reached the banks in the state.
There are around 800 bank branches across the state and all of them have been working full time to receive the demonetised currency. The State Bank of India itself has around 160 ATMs in the State.
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COMMON MAN WORST HIT
* Sufficient cash still not available either at ATMs or banks ever since Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes were demonetised
* The chaos in Panaji may have come down, but still a number of people belonging to the low strata of society are having a tough time
* A security guard received his salary by bearer cheque but to his dismay the bank refused to encash it
>> See pg 3
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RIGHT HAND FINGER
TO BE INKED FOR
CURRENCY EXCHANGE
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SC refuses to
stay note ban
>> See pg 8
