On Day 1, few takers for exchange of ₹2,000 notes in Delhi-NCR

Bank officials said this could be because people have over four months to make the transaction or because some may be waiting for a cooler day to visit the bank as the past few days have been hot

New Delhi: Most banks across Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) did not report much customer rush to deposit or exchange ₹2,000 notes even as the operations went on smoothly on the first day of the process on Tuesday.

Customers at an SBI branch at Noida’s Sector 2 on Tuesday, the first day to exchange ₹2000 notes. (Sunil Ghosh/HT Photo)

Bank officials said that this could be because people have over four months to make the transaction or because some may be waiting for a cooler day to visit the bank as the past few days have been very hot in the region.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday announced that all ₹2,000 notes, the highest currency denomination in the country, will be withdrawn from circulation, though they will remain legal tender for any monetary transaction. People have been given time from May 23 to September 30 to exchange or deposit these notes so that they can be withdrawn from circulation.

People can deposit all their ₹2,000 currency notes in their KYC-approved bank accounts. These will be switched by the banks. Alternatively, people can also exchange these notes for other denominations at any bank across the country. However, this exchange can be done for a maximum of ₹20,000 or 10 ₹2,000 currency notes. One does not need any identity proof to deposit or exchange the notes.

Despite making preparations to handle a larger crowd from Tuesday, officials at many locations said that hardly any customers turned up.

“We cancelled some of our internal meetings and had stocked up to handle any cash requirements. However, at our branch, the customers were almost half of what we get daily. We will have to return most of the cash by the evening as there have been just about two customers so far. We had also kept two additional staff to assist customers and were prepared to allot a separate counter but we are not going need any additional help it seems,” said Naveen Kumar Tyagi, vice president and branch manager, Axis Bank, Connaught Place (CP).

Other banks in CP including Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India, and Union Bank received similar responses from customers. Most banks in areas like Mayur Vihar, New Friends Colony, Munirka, Green Park, Nehru Place, and Noida, as well as Ghaziabad that HT reporters visited, had less than 20 transactions for the exchange of notes on Tuesday.

Residents said that not many of them like to keep several ₹2,000 notes for daily expenses as these are difficult to use for smaller transactions. “I keep some money from the monthly expenses as cash at home. However, I mostly have ₹500 notes,” said Sarita Singh, who was visiting her bank to exchange two notes of ₹2,000.

However, banks in market areas like Nehru Place, which are close to residential neighbourhoods, saw a higher crowd turnout.

At a branch of Union Bank of India at Nehru Place, staffers said that 60 customers had arrived till 2pm to exchange or deposit ₹2,000 notes. “This kind of turnout was nothing unusual, we have had such numbers even on normal days,” said Amit, a staffer who oversaw the operations.

AK Yadav, a security guard there, said that the customers formed two queues – one for exchange and another for deposit. “Since there were more customers in the exchange row, additional staff was deployed. Otherwise, there are hardly 10 customers in the queue at a time,” said Yadav.

Similarly, at a UCO Bank branch in the same market, about half-a-dozen customers waited for the lunch period to end before they could deposit or exchange their currencies.

Some customers also said that the daily limit should be increased to avoid inconvenience. There were also instances of people moving from one bank to another, owing to the limit of only being able to exchange ₹20,000 at a time. A LINE ABOUT HOW ONE CAN BYPASS THE LIMIT? IS IT RS 20k PER PERSON OR PER BANK?

In some areas, private banks also asked customers to fill out a form with personal details and others asked for ID proof, though the RBI guidelines do not mention any such requirement.

“Each bank has its own rules when it comes to exchanging old notes. At a private bank, I had to fill out a form and show a valid ID, while another private bank asked for a PAN card too. However, at another government bank nearby, no ID was needed,” said Yatish, 26, who went to four banks in Janakpuri during the day, adding that he knew of others who had gone to multiple banks to bypass the ₹20,000 limit.

Other branches faced teething issues such as internet connection problems.

Chingu, 16, attempted to exchange the currency at the Bank of India branch at the Community Centre in New Friends Colony. He was turned away by the bank and was asked to visit again on Wednesday. “They told me that the internet is not working due to which no currency can be exchanged today. They asked me to come on Wednesday with an Aadhaar card,” said Chingu, who goes by her first name.