Banks load ATMs with cash before 4-day holiday

Business activities in Gujarat may face a severe beating during this Diwali.

Banks, naionalised as well as the private new generation banks, will remain closed for next four days putting heavy strain on the traders. The banks had their last working day on Thursday.

Senior officials of the leading private banks said that they have loaded ATMs with cash to relieve the retail customers from some trouble.

Officials from the nationalised banks admitted that industry and business activities would be hit due to the consecutive four-day bank holiday.

Industrialists here feel that the banks should have remained open at least for few hours either on Saturday or on Monday, to clear their high-value cheques.

Retail customers in Gujarat, who normally spend a large amount of money in purchase during Diwali, are disappointed as ATMs of most of the banks do not allow to withdraw more than Rs 15,000 on a day. They also fear that heavy withdrawals my dry up the ATMs.

A senior official of a pharmaceutical major said, "Majority of our employees posted in plants might not be able to withdraw their salaries. Salaries were paid on Thursday by cheque and the cheques would be cleared and credited to their respective accounts only after next Thursday. This is really disappointing. Since most of them are from and middle-class and lower middle-class, they may have enough savings to purchase clothes, luxury items and household items during Diwali."

An ICICI Bank official said: "We have ensured that our ATMs are loaded with enough cash to handle these four days. ATMs are now interconnected. So customers can continue to withdraw cash even if the currency of an ATM gets exhausted."

But customers are peeved at the four-day closing because cheque and other bank transaction will come to a standstill during this longer holiday.

Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) president Chinubhai Shah said that banks should at least work partially on Monday.

"There will literally be no transaction on Friday and Saturday, but corporates, and business units will remain open on Monday. Banks must remain open at least partially on Monday," he said.

State Bank of India (SBI) general manager, S V Singh said that the bank has fully loaded the currency chests of all its ATMs and this will be sufficient to meet the needs of the customers.

"But more than 10 per cent of our ATMs are also interconnected, which means that even if cash in any one ATM is exhausted, customers can still continue to draw money as that particular ATM is connected with other ATMs."

Singh added that apart from this arrangement, almost all banks have tie-ups with other banks including private sector banks, and customers can continue to withdraw cash.

Asked if the currency chests will be refilled during the four-day break, the SBI general manager said that operating of currency chests is regulated and monitored by the Reserve Bank of India and these will not be opened as long as banks are closed.

"But there will be no shortage of cash as technology now allows ATMs to be interconnected," said Singh.

Officials of other banks also said that keeping in mind the fact that banks will remain closed for four days, special arrangements have been put into place to ensure that there is no shortage of cash for customers.

"All banks have ensured that the currency chests are fully loaded with cash, so that there will be no inconvenience to customers," said an official of a PSU bank here.