In many areas, people, in desperate need of short change, ran from one ATM to the other, with few managing to withdraw and the rest left dejected as machines emptied out before their turn.
At places, queues formed up within minutes of news spreading word of mouth that cash was being dispensed at a particular ATM.
"I went looking for cash at an ATM in Central Delhi. As soon as I entered the details, there was deduction from my account but the machine did not disburse any cash," Jheelum Mitra, an IT professional, said.
Banks have been serving only their respective customers and are not exchanging the old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes from customers of other banks since yesterday.
However, this restriction was not applicable on senior citizens yesterday as they were allowed to visit any bank branch to exchange old defunct currency notes.
The exchange limit has already been less than halved to Rs 2,000 to ease some pressure on cash demand.
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