As many as six states–Gujarat, eastern Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana–have complained of cash shortage with ATMs across the country going dry. (Express photo by Abhinav Saha)
With several states reporting currency shortage, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday stepped in to allay fears insisting that “there is more than adequate currency in circulation”. “Have reviewed the currency situation in the country. Over all there is more than adequate currency in circulation and also available with the Banks. The temporary shortage caused by ‘sudden and unusual increase’ in some areas is being tackled quickly,” Jaitley tweeted.
As many as six states–Gujarat, eastern Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana–have complained of cash shortage with ATMs across the country going dry. There have been reports of non-availability of cash in Delhi too–a stark reminder of the post-demonetisation phase.
Several leaders cutting across the political lines have trained guns on the Centre, saying that ATMs running dry was a reminder of demonetisation days.
Highlights
SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar has said it would not be correct to state that there is a currency shortage in the country. There has been an "imbalance" due to the crop procurement season, when demand for currency goes up. He said Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh are seeing heightened demand due to procurement season.
-PTI
RBI report shows that the currency in circulation in the country has reached the pre-demonetisation level of about Rs 17 lakh crore.
Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla has said the government has formed a committee to address the problem of currency shortage in certain states and the issue would be resolved in next two-three days.
"The government has set up a state-wise committee and RBI has also formed a committee to transfer currency from one state to other because for money transfer you need the permission of the RBI. It (the shortage) will be solved in two-three days," he said.
-PTI
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday claimed that Rs 2,000 notes were vanishing from the market, and alleged that there was a “conspiracy” behind it.
“The currency worth Rs 15,00,000 crore was in circulation before demonetisation. After this exercise (demonetisation), the currency in circulation increased to Rs 16,50,000 crore. But notes of Rs 2,000 are missing from the market.” He was apparently referring to news reports of ATMs running out of cash at some places in the state.
“Where these notes of Rs 2,000 denomination are going, who are keeping them out of circulation? Who are the persons creating shortfall of cash? This is a conspiracy to create problems. The government will act tough on this,” he said. He had taken up the issue with the Union Government, Chouhan added.
-PTI
"We print about 500 crores of Rs 500 notes per day. We have taken steps to raise this production by five times. In the next couple of days, we'll have a supply of about 2500 crore of Rs 500 notes per day. In a month, supply would be about 70000-75000 crore," ANI quotes SC Garg, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs as saying.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "destroying" the banking system. "Modi Ji has destroyed the banking system. Nirav Modi fled with Rs 30,000 crore and PM didn't utter a word. We were forced to stand in queues as he snatched 500-1000 rupee notes from our pockets and put in Nirav Modi's pocket," Gandhi was quoted as saying by ANI while reacting on cash crunch.
There are reports of cash shortages and some ATMs running dry of cash or becoming non-functional in some parts of the country. There has been unusual spurt in currency demand in the country in last three months. In the current month, in the first 13 days itself, the currency supply increased by Rs.45000 crores. This unusual spurt in demand is seen more in some parts of the country like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, MP and Bihar.
The Government of India with the Reserve Bank of India have taken all steps to meet this unusual demand. We had adequate reserves of currency notes which have been used to meet fully the extraordinary demand generated so far. We continue to have in stock adequate currency notes of all denominations, including of Rs.500, 200 and Rs.100 to meet any demand.
The Government would like to assure all the people that there have been adequate supply of currency notes which have met entire demand so far. The government would also like to assure that it would be supplying adequate currency notes to meet even higher levels of demand if such demand were to continue in the coming days/months.
The Government is taking all steps to ensure that ATMs are supplied with cash and to get non-functional ATMs normalised at the earliest.