Bhopal: How has it helped, people want to know

Bhopal: “Jaw-dropping”, is how a banker encapsulates his reaction to the demonetisation move of the Modi Government. And “nightmare” is the word he chooses to explain what followed in the days and weeks after ‘notebandi’. Local bankers can hardly forget the aftermath of demonetisation – serpentine queues before banks, irate customers, shortage of currency notes and empty ATMs. They say that they had to work extremely hard and face public anger for almost two months after the decision.

Most of them, however, feel that the move has failed to achieve its declared objective i.e. curbing black money. Yes, digital transactions have gone up but that too is limited to the urban areas. “It was like a bolt from the blue. Like everyone else, we too were taken by surprise,” a now retired AGM of a nationalised bank told Free Press on condition of anonymity.

Most of the bankers refused to share their experiences on record saying that they have been verbally instructed not to give any comments on the issue. Whether the gag order has come from the government or is the brainchild of some overzealous officer is difficult to guess.

The bankers say they had no inkling that any such decision was in the offing.  “We also got the news at 8 pm on November 8 when the Prime Minister made the announcement on national television,” says Mohan Samuel, regional manager, Central Bank of India.  He says that for 50-odd days after the demonestisation, they had to work day and night. “We came to the office early in the morning and left late in the night. There were huge crowds in the banks and the staffers had to face irate customers,” he said.

The retired banker offers a blow-by-blow account of the public reaction to the move. “First came the shock. People could not believe that their Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes had turned into scraps of paper overnight. This was soon replaced by the hope that when the government has taken such a big decision, it would do some good to the country. However, hope soon gave way to frustration with banks failing to dispense cash and “paise nahi hai” signboards hanging outside ATM kiosks”, he said.

The daily changes in rules added to the chaos and confusion. “I remember distinctly that the caps on withdrawals from ATMs and on depositing demonestised notes were changed at least 55 times,” says the manager of a bank located in the old City.  “It was a horror,” he added when asked to recount his experience of that time. “I came to office at 9 am and left at 11 pm. The employees in the cash department faced worse times. Sometimes, they had to stay back in office till 1.30 in the night and be back by 10 am the next day”, he says.

Bankers say that even they had to face problems. “My son got married in December, 2016 and when I went to deposit Rs 2.5 lakh which we had received as cash gifts in my account, I was asked to reveal the source of the funds in writing,” says the ex-AGM.

As for whether the move has achieved what it was intended to, most of them say it has not.  Of course, digital transactions are up and the banks have more cash in their vaults. “Our current and savings account deposits have shot up,” says Samuel.  He says that digital transactions have increased by almost 40 percent and a large number of mobile apps to facilitate cashless purchases have come up.

However, another banker feels that lack of infrastructure and awareness was inhibiting the growth of cashless transactions in the rural areas. “When there is no electricity and no connectivity what is use of POS machines or mobile apps,” he asks.  They say that even after the move, the parallel, black money economy continues to thrive. “What has happened is that black money has been turned into white and white money into black,” quipped a bank employee.