The RBI has asked banks to maintain separate daily records of the value of notes submitted for exchange and those deposited. The central bank said it would call for this data when required. It has also asked banks to maintain adequate shaded waiting places and drinking water, considering the summer season.
According to bank officials in branches visited by TOI, there have been several inquiries on the frequency at which notes can be exchanged and the documentation required.
Officials said that banks have continued to accept deposits of Rs 2,000 notes in keeping with their usual practice. ATM managers are expected to reset cash withdrawal machines to disable the recycling of Rs 2,000 notes.
Branch officers said they do not expect any disruption of services as there is no additional requirement for depositing the Rs 2,000 notes. However, while banks have instructed branches not to insist on proof of identity, branch officials were unsure of the procedure to be followed as their internal risk management process required them to do so. A branch manager with a private bank said that the branch would be making a record of the currency notes exchanged and asking for the depositor’s information. “We need to have a trail in case we end up with counterfeit notes,” said the manager.
Another branch manager said that it would not be possible to keep a track record of the number of notes exchanged by an individual if there was no record of the depositor.
Meanwhile, HDFC Bank,in an email to customers, said that customers can exchange Rs 2,000 banknotes with a perday limit of Rs 20,000.
Many business establishments, including petrol pumps and consumer durables, received Rs 2,000 banknotes as customers sought to exhaust these. Food delivery app Zomato said that since Friday, 72% of the platform’s cash-on-delivery orders were paid in Rs 2,000 notes.
Economists said that the inflow of Rs 2,000 notes into the banking system would lead to a temporary surge in liquidity for banks. According to a research note by the Bank of Baroda, if 50% of the total Rs 2,000 notes are deposited in banks, deposits will increase by Rs 1. 8 lakh crore.
“All said, this move could provide some relief temporarily to the banking sector liquidity, which has been rather tight. But it is not a permanent solution,” said Pranjul Bhandari, chief economist for India and Indonesia with HSBC Bank.
