An Express recce in south revealed that banks in Bhubaneswar and Kochi were cash rich, however, the those in Chennai, Bengaluru, Thiruvananthapuram and Vijayawada remained cashless.
CHENNAI
Patience stretched to the limit
CHENNAI: The Express recce of banks in Chennai showed that banks here are dispensing new currency notes through cheques only for a few hours before running out of cash. As per the Centre’s directive, the withdrawal limit per week is Rs 24,000. Some have slashed the withdrawal limit to as low as Rs 5,000.
Serpentine queues continue to be de rigueur 30 days since the Big D was let loose on the nation.
Of the seven banks we randomly visited, two stopped honouring cheques after noon, three banks set their own withdrawal limit of Rs 5,000, Rs 6,000 and Rs 12,000 and only two honoured cheques up to the RBI limit of Rs 24,000. Read More
BHUBANESWAR
In need of cash? This is the palce to be
BHUBANESWAR: In Bhubaneswar, Express checked out SBI, Bank of India, UCO Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Central Bank, Canara Bank, ICICI Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Axis Bank at the following locations: Unit VI, Unit VII, Unit IX, Surya Nagar, Gopabandhu Nagar, Sahid Nagar, Ashok Nagar, Forest Park, Satya Nagar and Mali Sahi.
There was no cash crunch in any of the bank branches we visited. Most of the banks allowed customers to use withdrawal slips, while a few stuck to the self-cheque route. Read More
KOCHI
There are no queues in Kochi
We visited the following banks in Kochi: South Indian Bank, Thevara; SBI branches at Kadavanthra, Thevara and Panampilly Nagar; HDFC, Kaloor; and South Indian Bank, Kaloor.
Most of the banks here have sufficient cash to meet the Rs 24,000 per week withdrawal limit imposed by the Union government. Read More
BENGALURU
Banks now money ration shops
BENGALURU:To get a firsthand idea of the situation, an Express team visited several banks — their home branches — on Friday to withdraw cash. We checked out banks in Kumaraswamy Layout, Chamarajpet, Electronic City, Basaveshwara Nagar, Infantry Road and TC Pallya Road.
While most banks had cash, SBI at Thubarahalli ran dry at 3 pm and put up a ‘No Cash’ board outside. Such signs have been all too common at ATMs but for a bank to sport one was peculiar. Read More
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM
Kerala capital ain't bad either
A majority of the banks in Thiruvananthapuram had sufficient cash to honour the RBI limit of Rs 24,000 per week. No customers were turned away for the shortage of currency. However, getting the denomination of one’s choice was difficult with only Rs 2,000s available.
There was a considerable rush at the SBI Althara Junction but elsewhere officials said the rush tended to come down by the end of banking hours.Read More
VIJAYAWADA
What if you are stuck with a salary cheque?
VIJAYAWADA: Express visited five banks in Vijayawada, and found that a majority of them have put on hold their regular services like issue of debit/credit cards, cheque books until December 30. Loans are being sanctioned but the payment is in installments. They are in fact in no position to even honour cheques. One customer, N Venkatesh walked into the SBI branch at Gandhi Nagar on Friday to encash a cheque of Rs 15,000. He was told to make it ‘even’ — meaning it should be either Rs 14,000 or Rs 16,000. Read More