Finance Ministry holds review meeting taking stock of the availability of cash

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Finance, in a review meeting today, took stock of the availability of cash and its issuance to the public. In the meeting, it was disclosed that a total of over seven crore transactions have taken place from November 9, till noon of November 12, for deposit, exchange and withdrawal from ATMs and in branches of post offices and the banks.

The meeting was attended by representatives from the Reserve Bank of India, Indian Banks Association (IBA) and a few major banks.

The meeting also concluded that there is sufficient cash available with RBI and Banks. They were advised to step up the supply of cash to the public.

Many ATMs across the national capital region remained defunct even on the fourth day of currency ban as the masses emptied the ATMs within half an hour of their refill.

However, it was pointed out in the meeting that out of two lakh ATMs, about 1.2 lakh are operational. Currently, only Rs 100 notes are being disbursed from the ATMs. Re-calibration (i.e. making the ATMs new note-ready, which requires both software and hardware changes) of ATMs is going on. This will reportedly be completed by end of this month or by early December. Other denominations will then be disbursed by ATMs.

The discomfort faced by the people is going to extend for over a month owing to these problems.

Meanwhile, reports of vandalism have been coming in from different parts of the country since the last two days. An unverified video was circulated on WhatsApp groups. This video showed few people rioting and looting a grocery shop in Metro Mall near Seelampur Metro Station in East Delhi.