Cap on withdrawals gone but ATMs cashless for two more days
The Reserve Bank of India on Monday lifted the cap on cash withdrawals at ATMs but Hyderabadis will have to wait for two more days before ATMs are restocked again, says bank officials.
Published: 14th March 2017 05:34 AM | Last Updated: 14th March 2017 05:34 AM | A+A A-
ATM wearing a deserted look due to unavailability of cash in Madhapur in Hyderabad on Monday | Express photo
HYDERABAD: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday lifted the cap on cash withdrawals at ATMs but Hyderabadis will have to wait for two more days before ATMs are restocked again, says bank officials. But as of Monday, most ATMs in the city are out of cash.
With the beginning of March, public started noticing cash shortages at various ATMs in the city. The cash shortage worsened in the second week of March with most ATMs running out of cash. Banks tried their best to keep the ATMs stocked but only at key areas in the city.
“It is not possible for us to fill all ATMs of our bank, so we decided to stock up on some key areas such as airports and railways stations. We ensured that cash was stocked at such locations at least one time a day,” said a senior bank official of a public sector bank.
The commercial areas in the city too were left cash dry. ATMs at Panjagutta, Ameerpet, Banjara and Jubilee hills all had out of order sign boards or had their shutters down.
“Only the main branches will have cash stocks, small branches are now out of cash, there is no cash flow from RBI as of now. We have been informed that a cash consignment will be arriving within two days,” said a bank official with another public sector bank. Most ATMs that have cash have only `2000 notes. The machines do not dispense money in bulk amounts either. At some ATMs, security guards are limiting people from using the ATM multiple times for withdrawal.
“The cash shortage arose due to the elections at different states. The cash was diverted to those states. I do not know for what reasons,” said a senior bank official of a public sector bank. “We did not face any shortage post December, things did return back to normalcy, but this was unexpected,’’ he added.
