Hundreds of people thronged bank branches since early morning in different parts of Gujarat to exchange the now-invalid Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.
Long queues were seen outside all bank branches in the state as several of them started dispensing new notes, while several others awaited the arrival of new notes.
Post offices were yet to receive the new notes and people who went to get their old notes exchanged were only given Rs 100 and Rs 50 denominations notes.
While banks were closed yesterday to make preparations for disbursement of the new currency, in place of the demonetised notes, people were faced hardships in procuring them today as new notes had not reached many branches and post offices.
Whereas, people who got new notes expressed happiness after receiving them.
Some people were seen queueing up outside various banks in the city as early as 6 am to exchange the old notes.
"I ran out of cash to meet my daily needs. If I do not get new notes, I would be in big trouble. To make sure that I get new notes today, I have came here very early. However, many others were already in the queue when I reached at 6 AM," said A Patel of New Ranip, a bank account holder in SBI.
Similar queues can be seen outside almost all the banks in the city as well as other parts of the state today.
"We have no notes of Rs 50 or Rs 100 for daily use, have run out of it, so urgently need money. Which is why we arrived here early morning," said Suresh Dalal, who stood outside to withdraw money from the RBI centre.
Senior citizens complained that there were no separate queues for them and the banks opened late.
"Knowing that people have arrived here since early morning, the bank should have opened at least on time if not early. There is no separate queue for senior citizens," an elderly woman at a Bank of Baroda branch in Surat said.
At another branch of a private bank here, people
complained that the banks did not put up notice outside to instruct people to bring the xerox copy of their ID proof.
"I was turned back by the clerk because I did not have xerox copy of ID proof, so I went back again. Bank should have put up the notice," an irked customer said.
Today is the first day to exchange the notes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced two days back the scrapping of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes, making them invalid for transaction post Tuesday midnight.
As per the Centre's announcement, people can deposit any amount of the now invalid currency in their bank accounts till December 30 and also exchange them for lower bank notes at special counters at banks and post offices till November 24, but with a limit of Rs 4,000 per day.
Though people are getting new notes of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 from the banks, some complained that the post offices in the city were not giving them new notes in exchange of the old ones.
Officials of the General Post Office (GPO) here said that the post offices were yet to get the new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes.
"We are unable to exchange old notes with new notes, as we are yet to get those new notes. It may take one or two days. However, we are giving people Rs 100 notes against their old notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000," said M J Rathva, an official at the city GPO.
