Within a few days after demonetisation of the Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi put out a poll on his mobile application to gauge the popularity of his government’s move. Around the same time an enterprising bunch devised an application to book a “chottu” (helper) to stand in bank and ATM queues for people for an hourly fee. While Indians are good at turning disasters into economic opportunities, there was no ingenuity to devise an application or a method by which people could be given real-time information on banks and ATMs which were ready to dispense cash. The result is that the entire country seems to be on a wild goose chase hunting for ATMs and banks which would dispense money. The first sign of a place ready with cash will be a long queue outside it.
But there seems to be a method by which people can actually head straight to a bank or ATM most likely to carry cash.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has 4102 currency chests in various banks across the country. It is in these currency chests of various banks that cash comes in from RBI’s regional offices to be distributed to various branches. These banks with currency chests are both private and public banks. Now most of the banks with currency chests are likely to have an ATM attached to them. So often when cash comes to these branches, a team also loads money into ATMs attached with these banks.
Delhi has 52 currency chests; Mumbai has 62 while Bengaluru has 39. There are 28 other cities across India which also contain these currency chests. So if a person is in any of these cities, she is more likely to find cash specifically at localities where these banks and ATMs attached with them are located.
For instance, if you are in Delhi you may get most lucky at Parliament Street. That’s because Parliament Street has the most number of banks with currency chests in the national capital. They include Allahabad Bank, Bank of Baroda, UCO Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India and Standard Chartered.
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If you are in Mumbai, you might want to place yourself either in Bandra (East) or the Fort area. In Bandra (East), including the Bandra Kurla complex, there are atleast eight banks with currency chests which are loaded every day with newly printed currency arriving from RBI’s regional offices.
Secondly, one should ensure that she doesn’t just head to any ATM. Certain banks and ATMs will be in a position to dispense more cash than others because they have a bigger customer base and therefore will get more cash from the RBI. For instance, SBI the largest bank in India and more geographically spread will get more new currency than a Standard Chartered. Similarly, nationalised banks will have more cash than private banks in general given that some of them serve more customers than their private counterparts. Of course if one has an account with a private bank and wants to withdraw cash from the bank, one can’t do much. But using one’s ATM card at a nationalized bank in these localities will maximize one’s chances of withdrawing cash.
Thirdly, one must ensure that she goes to localities close to other localities with banks holding currency chests. For instance, in Bengaluru, KG Road has the most number of currency chests. But if one finds long queues outside banks with currency chests on KG Road, the next destination should be nearby MG Road. That’s because a short walk away on MG Road are two banks – Corporation Bank and Vijaya Bank – with currency chests.
In Delhi if one is at Bhikaji Cama Place that has a currency chest at Punjab National Bank, one should also be ready to move to nearby localities of Safdarjung and RK Puram if they fail to find cash. That’s because Safdarjung Enclave area has two banks with currency chests – State Bank of Patiala and Indian Overseas Bank. RK Puram meanwhile has two more chests at SBI and Syndicate Bank.
Similarly, if one is in the Matunga area of Mumbai at the SBI branch in the main bazaar with a currency chest, it would be wise to also keep an eye out for Dadar (West) and Shivaji Park for a SBI and a Bank of India branch respectively with currency chests.
Fourthly, the RBI mentioned in its briefing last week that it had remonetised the economy to the tune of only Rs 4 lakh crore a month after the demonetisation move. That still leaves 65% of the currency taken out of circulation to be replaced. So even when banks with currency chests and ATMs at these centres run dry, they actually might not be getting cash from India’s central bank.
The RBI till now hasn’t disclosed how much currency it has dispatched to different currency chests across the country. There is no information on how banks are distributing cash to their respective branches after receiving it in their currency chests. Furthermore, banks despite having interconnected ATMs have failed to inform customers about which ones are recalibrated or ready to dispense cash on a real time basis every day.
