Banks in Mumbai witnessed serpentine queues as thousands flocked to deposit scrapped notes and withdraw lower denomination and new banknotes today on the first day after reopening for public after demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.
Not everyone returned with their pockets full though since a few were turned down due to unavailability of cash.
Following the government's announcement of scrapping Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on Tuesday, banks and ATMs were shut yesterday.
Starting today, customers are allowed to exchange up to Rs 4,000 in cash at any bank branch with valid identity proof. They can also withdraw cash against withdrawal slip or cheque subject to ceiling of Rs 10,000 in a day within an overall limit of Rs 20,000 in a week (including withdrawals from ATMs) up to November 24, after which these limits shall be reviewed.
Long queues were seen at public sector banks, which have large number of branches across the country, compared to their private and foreign peers.
In order to manage the crowd, some of the public sector banks such as State Bank of India, Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra and IDBI Bank among others also deployed police officials, along with their private guards.
A customer at a State Bank of Mysore (SBM) branch in the northeast suburb of Mulund said, "I came to exchange my Rs 500 notes. The bank accepted those but did not give me Rs 100 notes as it does not have cash. They deposited into my account and I will withdraw from ATM tomorrow."
Seeing less crowd at the same branch, an auto-rickshaw driver visited it but was turned away as there was no cash.
Mumbaikars started queueing up as early as 6 AM in the morning, nearly 3-4 hours before the banks open.
Some customers seemed frustrated with a few banks exchanging only Rs 2,000 with Rs 100 notes.
"I was in queue for four hours to exchange Rs 4,000. But unfortunately I was permitted only Rs 2,000 to be exchanged that too with Rs 100 denomination," said Ashwin Kadam, who had stood in queue since 6 AM at Punjab & Maharashtra Cooperative Bank Limited branch in Vikhroli.
Clarifying on the issue, an executive of the bank said, "We are facing liquidity crisis. As and when the RBI supplies us sufficient notes we would start disbursing the notes with full permissible limit."
He also said that they have opened additional counters and cancelled the leaves of the staff to meet the demands.
A Corporation Bank branch manager said the bank today
will exchange Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes of its account holders only, while it will exchange that of other banks' account holders from tomorrow as less cash was available.
An official at Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank said it was accepting scrapped notes but the customers will have to wait for sometime as the cash was on its way.
"We had written for new notes. It will shortly be delivered at our branch. Till then customers will have to wait," the official said.
Wary of counterfeit notes, state-run IDBI Bank branch in Mulund pasted a notice - 'Fake notes will not be returned'.
"We had a feel that fake notes may also come so we have cautioned all the customers coming to our branches that if they bring counterfeit notes, the branch will accept it but will not return any money," said an official at the branch.
The branch also saw this as an opportunity to woo non-account holders and started a saving account opening drive outside the branch.
An India Post branch in Mulund was accepting Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes but was not giving lower denomination notes. It, however, asked customers to enquire about the new notes only after two days.
Some customers who approached post-office branches were displeased as they were unable to exchange the now-defunct currency notes.
Some people were also miffed with the exchange limit of Rs 4,000.
Venting out her disappointment, Pramodini Naik, a housewife in suburban Vikhroli, said, "It seems we have to spend five to six hours daily for one month or two months to exchange the notes. This is really disgusting. Banning black money is OK, but certainly not this way."
Meanwhile, some banks issued SMS on cell phones to inform their customers regarding the process to be followed to deposit the notes.
"Special squads of RBI officials are conducting random checks in the bank branches and keeping a tab on the developments," a senior official of Union Bank of India told
(REOPENS BOM12)
In suburban Thane, serpentine queues were seen at bank branches.
The paucity of space in the branches, many of which are located in crowded neighbourhoods, meant the customers had to sweat it out in the open in a queue before being called in.
A security guard outside HDFC Bank said even though it opens at 9.30 AM, anxious customers had formed a queue since 8.30 AM itself.
Many of them wanting to exchange notes had to return disappointed as the bank did not have sufficient cash as the vehicle carrying it had not reached on time.
An ICICI Bank branch located nearby had similar story of long queues but was exchanging cash till Rs 4,000 limit.
One of SBI's Thane branches was giving cash and hence saw a huge rush.
Appeals by banks not to worry and the fact that there is a 50-day window for depositing the older notes did not find many takers with people in large numbers thronging the banks.
Some were particularly unhappy that they are forced to show their ID proofs despite having completed the KYC formalities at the bank.
All the banks' staff was out on the floor helping the harried customers who had to face newer ways of working.
This was seen even in the case of state-run banks.
Syndicate Bank and Punjab National Bank branches in downtown Fort in the heart of the financial capital had staff out on the floor helping.
In the satellite city of Navi Mumbai, people complained about slow systems leading to long queues.
A Bank of India branch manager in Seawoods said, "The business was as usual and there were not many customers who came for exchange of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes."
However, foreign lenders did not seem to attract the same crowds, despite the government announcement of changing notes over the counter. The Fort's Citi Bank had low footfalls.
