40 days on, cash shortage still plagues Mumbaikars

Mumbai: Mumbaikars have been facing a scarcity of money 40 days since the central government declared the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Queues for depositing old notes at the banks are shrinking, but ATMs at many places continue to run out of cash.

“There is a short queue for withdrawal and almost no queue for deposits. You can see it here,” said a senior executive of a leading private bank in Fort area.

A senior officer at the department of post, Maharashtra and Goa Circle, said, “The numbers of depositors as well the amount of deposits across the five regions in the circle have reduced by over 80 to 85 per cent and so is the case with opening new accounts.” However, some people complained that the note ban has increased their difficulties.

Sheetala Prasad, a grocery owner from suburban Kandivali, said, “These days have been the worst days for my business. We have been facing a lot of problems for want of cash.”

He expressed unhappiness over the Rs 50,000 withdrawal limits for current account and Rs 24,000 for savings account.

Ramesh Tripathi, a trainer at a gym in South Mumbai, said, “ATMs have virtually become defunct. ‘ATM closed’ boards are now a permanent feature. But, we are able to withdraw money from banks. I got Rs 10,000 from a bank in Worli today in less than five minutes.”

A real state broker from Mulund, on condition of anonymity, said that deals in the real estate sector had dropped drastically. “Even the deals that were made before demonetisation was announced have been cancelled,” said the broker, adding that the ban is expected to cause a dip in real estate prices in the coming months.