Kolkata: Ink on finger an indelible reminder

Kolkata: The  process of applying ink on the fingers of customers visiting banks in a bid to check repeat money exchange began in Kolkata on Thursday with the  State Bank of India’s main branch on Strand Road.

“We have already started implementing it and will gradually enforce it at all our branches. The move is to stop people from getting trapped by suspected money mules who comes to banks to exchange notes carrying different identity proofs,” said Partha Pratim  Sengupta, chief general manager of SBI Kolkata.

SBI has 1,200 branches in the state, of which 190 are in Kolkata. Mr Sengupta said of the 3,500 SBI ATMs, 120 have been recalibrated with Rs 2,000 notes while another 130 would be recalibrated by Thursday morning.

A top SBI official said since the demonetisation, the number of deposits has increased by five times. “Every day, around 5 lakh deposits are being made,” the official said, adding that in the past four days, the bank has witnessed a rise in its deposit by Rs 8,500 crore.

Long queues continued to be a common sight on Wednesday despite the banks putting the measure to check repeat visitors.