Rs 2,000 notes kept ready in 4,000 currency chests

As per the RBI directive, despite being Sunday, banks were open. There were serpentine queues in front of banks and people vied with each other to exchange old currencies. Meanwhile, RBI in a statement here said withdrawal of the legal tender character of the then existing bank notes in Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 have cast a huge responsibility on the banking system to swiftly withdraw these specified bank  notes in a smooth and non-disruptive way and provide in exchange, notes of other denominations which were legal tender. 

“It entailed swift withdrawal of the specified bank notes from the ATMs also within a few hours of the announcement, recalibrating these for issuance of other legal tender notes and reloading them in a matter of two days and providing the exchange facility for members of public at all bank branches all over the country, just after a day from the announcement’’, it said. 

To minimise inconvenience to public branches of banks, RBI offices have been working beyond normal business hours, with additional counters opened to cater to the public, the release said. It said that on November 10 alone about ten crore exchange transactions have been reported. Keeping in mind the need for other denomination notes which are legal tender (including Rs. 2000), adequate stocks of these notes are kept ready in the currency chests.  The bank branches were linked to them to source their requirements from them. To sustain the demand, printing presses were printing the currency notes at full capacity so that adequate quantum of notes was available, the release said.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) urged the public to lend their helping land to ease the pressure on physical currency and switch over to digital mode.  The RBI suggested that people could switch over to pre-paid cards, Rupay, Credit, Debit cards, mobile banking and internet banking.  They could also use Jan Dhan Yojana accounts and cards, it said. The statement said the scheme for exchange of the specified bank notes for other denominations is available  across the country till December 30 and even beyond, at specified RBI offices.