Hyderabad: “After trying 6 ATMs unsuccessfully, I went into a bank. They too had no money and gave me Rs 10,000 in 50 rupee denominations. I had to pay my electricity bill in cash as one of my cheques in November was dated 2016 instead of 2017 which meant that only cash would be accepted from the “defaulter” for one year,” says Vimala Madan from Sainikpuri. This is not an isolated case and there have been many complaints about ATMs running dry in the first ten days of May that usually sees high withdrawals by salaried persons and pensioners. Citizens said that they had to visit a minimum of 4 ATMs to find cash.
Ms Shalini Dubey of Anand Bagh said, “Out of all the ATMs working in my locality, only one percent of the ATMs hold cash. We are forced to stand for more than 30 minutes as even banks cite cash deficiency. Also, the ATMs that hold cash are not dispensing large currency notes.”
While the cash crunch was going on, SBI offered cash withdrawal using credit card for their customers. Mr Mahender Reddy a techie and resident of Khairatabad says, “The ATMs were running dry in my area and ironically I received an option to withdraw money using my credit card at zero interest. The issue of cash crunch should be addressed first before giving such offers.”
A bank staffer told DC, “Cash crunch may be the result of panic withdrawal by customers who anticipated cash crunch. Especially employees and pensioners tend to withdraw the entire amount fearing no cash will be available in the near future. However the ATMs are being timely refilled.”
SBI authorities state that 82 per cent of SBI ATMs across Telangana are operational and there is sufficient cash flow.
