 "People standing in a long queue to exchange their old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes outside the RBI building in New Delhi")
After being cashless for over 24 hours, millions of people stood in queues outside banks on Thursday to exchange their now-defunct Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes with new Rs 2,000 notes, or simply withdraw some money. According to sources, banks still haven’t got the new set of Rs 500 notes as customers were given a mix of Rs 2,000 and Rs 100 notes.
Nirmal Waghule, a 72-year-old retired engineer, who had come to exchange cash at an ICICI Bank branch in Mumbai, stood in the queue as soon as the branch opened. He got the mandated Rs 4,000 in a combination of Rs 100 and Rs 2,000 notes. Luckily, the service was quick and bank staff was patient, but this senior citizen was wondering how to get the Rs 2,000 note exchanged.
However, not everyone was so lucky. Bansiram Kamble, a contract worker, could not deposit his money because he did not have adequate know-your-customer (KYC) documents. “This is the only cash I have and all of it is in Rs 500 notes. I do not know what to do,” he was seen pleading with bank officials. But bank officials had little option as any cash deposit over Rs 50,000 requires KYC documents and if a person is depositing money in any other branch (not the home branch), an identity proof is required. There were other teething problems such as customers not being allowed to do two transactions — deposit and withdrawal — at the same time, as Ankita Pathak, a college student who had to spend over two hours in the queue for two transactions, experienced.
