Payday blues: Firms give day off, stressed banks ask for protection Withdrawals from Jan Dhan accounts restricted to `10K
NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Banks sought police protection and private companies gave a day off to employees on Thursday as the country braced for the first payday since the recall of high-value banknotes, a shock move that sucked 86% of the currency out of circulation.
Most of the government and private sector employees get their salaries credited to their accounts on the last day of the month and millions of people were expected to line up at banks and cash-dispensing machines from Thursday to withdraw cash.
With the government’s mints failing to churn out enough notes to keep up with the demand, anger and frustration has grown over the government’s demonetisation move that the opposition has slammed for its faulty implementation.
The situation at the banks in many states has already turned worse.
“Angry customers, who did not get cash, locked up bank staff at a few branches in Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The situation is getting out of hand. We have sought police protection,” said CH Venkatachalam, general secretary, All India Bank Employees’ Association.
An ICICI bank manager in Mumbai said people were getting “agitated because they cannot withdraw their own money”.
Several banks also limited the daily cash withdrawal limit to `4,000 per person on Wednesday as branches ran out of cash within hours of opening. Some bank officials complained that they CH VENKATACHALAM, general secretary, All India Bank Employees’ Association
were getting cash much below what they need.
“I have to pay my maid and grocery bills in cash. I somehow managed to convince my landlord to accept the rent in cheque but I am bound to visit the bank for other payments,” said Vishakha Sharma, 27, from west Delhi, who waited outside a bank for two hours.
“It is so humiliating that we have to stand in long queues and beg for our own money.”
An MNC employee, Yogesh Yadav, said he had come to withdraw `24,000 from his account but was given only `10,000.
At present, there is no daily withdrawal limit per day, though the weekly cap is `24,000.
Besides offering a day off to employees to queue up at the bank, some companies are deploying mini ATMs in offices.
Many real estate and construction companies, a sector that employs many casual workers and pays the bulk of the salaries in cash, are helping people open bank accounts.
“We spoke to our banking partners to open accounts for the labourers working on our construction site. We do not want to hold on to people’s salaries,” said Amit Modi, director at real estate developer, ABA Corp.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 MUMBAI: The government clamped temporary restrictions on withdrawals from Jan Dhan accounts on Wednesday in a bid to stop people from parking illegal incomes in these accounts.
In a notification, the RBI announced that Jan Dhan account holders fully compliant with bank transaction data norms will be allowed to withdraw `10,000 monthly.
Further withdrawals may be allowed only after the “genuineness” of such needs is recorded.
Any Jan Dhan account holder who isn’t complaint with the “know your customer” norms will be allowed to withdraw `5,000 per month from the amount deposited through the old notes after November 9 “within the overall ceiling of `10,000”.
This comes after the government revealed the total deposits in Jan Dhan accounts suddenly increased to `64,252.15 crore between November 10 and 16 after the government announced the scrapping of high-value banknotes.
“With a view to protect innocent farmers and rural account holders of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana from activities of money launders and legal consequences under the Benami Property Transaction & Money Laundering laws, it has been decided to place certain limits, as a matter of precaution,” the RBI notification read.
Angry customers, who did not get cash, locked up bank staff at a few branches in Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The situation is getting out of hand.