Hyderabad: Cash causes confusion over RBI rules capping cash withdrawals

Hyderabad: Lack of clarity over the day when RBI rules capping cash withdrawals set in created confusion among bankers. This led to ATMs refusing to dispense permissible amount of cash even a week after the last ATM withdrawal.

Under the “demonetisation scheme”, people were allowed to withdraw Rs 4,000 a week — later changed to Rs 4,500. However, bankers were in a dilemma over the day when the week — for this purpose — would be considered to have started.

A normal week would be from Sunday to Saturday. If we consider the week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement on Tuesday, it would begin from Wednesday and end on the next Tuesday. Or from Thursday — the day banks reopened — to Wednesday.

But the banks remained closed on Wednesday for updating their ATM software and for making arrangements for cash exchange counters. Mr Kailash Agarwal, a businessman from Bagh Amberpet, said he had withdrawn about Rs 4,000 in 10 attempts in the very next hour following the PM’s statement.

“Recently, when RBI relaxed cap on withdra-wal from Rs 20,000 to Rs 24,000 in a week, I withdrew Rs 10,000 once from the bank and Rs 4,000 from the ATM. But when I tried to withdraw Rs 4,000 on Wednesday, the ATM declined and allowed me to withdraw only Rs 2,000. When I met the banker, he said the cap was for a week. But from the first withdrawal on November 8, a week is over,” he said.

Secretary of AP and Telangana Bank Employees Federation M.S. Kumar said that there was no clarity or definition given by the RBI initially in its circular for the “week”.

“But on Wednesday, RBI orally informed bankers that the week was from Thursday to Wednesday. By evening, the RBI officials had directed bankers to upgrade their software mentioning the week to be from Thursday to Wednesday,” he said. He said that customers who had reached the cap could withdraw money from either banks or ATMs from Thursday.