It was business as usual at most bank branches across Telangana as a nationwide window for exchanging ₹2,000 denomination notes that are being withdrawn by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) began on Tuesday.
Customer footfall as anticipated was more than usual, but not as much for exchange as for depositing the notes into bank accounts. The deposits had picked steam ever since the RBI announcement on May 19, officials of public, private and regional rural banks pointed out, adding some customers were also using cash deposit machines.
High net-worth individuals, those dealing in realty, businessmen, liquor outlets, petrol bunks, fertilizer shops, farmers with large land holding primarily were among those who opted to deposit, ostensibly because there was no limit on such remittances. While a maximum of 10 notes of ₹2,000 denomination can be exchanged at a time, technically it was possible for customers to do more since banks were not asking them to produce any proof of identity or even share their mobile numbers, sources said.
State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank, Andhra Pradesh Grameena Vikas Bank (APGVB) and many other banks had drawn up plans to handle a rush of customers. Sources said PNB had geared up to operate additional cash counters, especially in branches near shopping hubs such as Begum Bazar in Hyderabad.
In an advisory to its Circle offices, SBI said branches should not insist on any application form, additional information, or identity documents from customer/public for the exchange of notes. Deposits were permitted into account without any restrictions for KYC compliant accounts, while exchange of notes up to a limit of ₹20,000 was permitted at a time for public.
“Only a few customers requested currency exchange, with majority opting to deposit. The entire process went smoothly without any difficulties across our bank branches... footfall has been approximately 10-20% higher than usual,” APGVB chairman K.Praveen Kumar said. In rural branches, most customers deposited only 1-15 notes, which they likely obtained from various sources such as agricultural harvest earnings, he said in a statement.
In the hinterland, sources said since the RBI announcement, those dealing in farm produce are clearing the outstanding dues to farmers with the ₹2,000 notes, who in turn are using them to clear loans taken from money lenders.
Enquiries with bank branches in western Hyderabad showed that those who came to exchange had the number of notes well within the upper limit of 10. “There aren’t too many notes in circulation of late,” a counter staff at a public sector bank said.
Locker operations
There were also reports of receipt of more than the usual number of ₹2,000 notes for remitting Sub Registrar challans and Treasury challan in recent days. Locker operations were higher in some pockets, presumably to deposit the cash into accounts, sources with branches in some regions of the State said.
