The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may have pumped in 22.6 billion currency notes as part of the remonetisation process since November 8 when two higher denomination notes were banned, but the demand continues to be in excess of supply. The central bank may therefore not relax the current restrictions on cash withdrawals at ATMs and bank branches, believe bank officials.
The current limit is Rs 2,500 per day at ATMs while a customer can withdraw only Rs 24,000 in a week, including money withdrawn from bank branches.
Read: RBI data on ATMs, POS, credit, debit cards
"Most of us think that the withdrawal limit would not be completely withdrawn. It is a possibility that it could be relaxed if the cash situation improves," PTI quoted a senior public sector bank official as saying.
The supply of currency notes to the people was pegged at 22.6 billion pieces in 40 days since November 8 demonetisation decision announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"Over the period from November 10, 2016, up to December 19, 2016, banks have reported that banknotes worth Rs 5,92,613 crore have been issued to public either over the counter or through ATMs," the RBI said in its update a few days ago. In dollar terms, it is approximately $87.2 billion.
It will be a testing time for the banking system as there would be a surge in cash withdrawals after people get their December salary, making the task that much more difficult, notwithstanding efforts by the government's push towards a digital economy.
The latest incentive to drive a digital economy is the lucky draw announced by the government announced by the government, where people can win prizes in lucky draws.
NITI Aayog, along with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) as its implementation partner, launched two major schemes - Lucky Grahak Yojana for consumers and Digi-Dhan Vyapar Yojana for merchants.
The first draw of the Lucky Grahak Yojana to provide a cash back of Rs 1,000 to 15,000 consumers every day for the next 100 days will be launched on December 25 in New Delhi, followed by a similar exercise in 100 different cities over the next 100 days until March.
