Confusion over forms on Day 1 of exchange of ₹2,000 notes
In the absence of a specific mandate, many banks decided to play safe and urged consumers to furnish identification and fill out copious forms.
MUMBAI: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the rollback of ₹2000 currency notes last week and gave citizens approximately four months to exchange or deposit the notes in their possession. RBI’s circular did not specify the need for consumers to furnish documents (Aadhaar and Pan cards, commonly) to confirm their identities while making the deposits or exchanges. However, Tuesday, the first day of the drive, was marked by confusion at all the banks.
In the absence of a specific mandate, many banks decided to play safe and urged consumers to furnish identification and fill out copious forms.
Jeshal Jhaveri, an employee of a private bank in Worli, said, “There was a lot of confusion about the need for documents. I visited two banks myself – HDFC bank mandated filling out forms for an exchange of the notes, while Kotak Mahindra Bank added submission of identity proofs along with the forms. There is a lack of clarity on guidelines.”
The forms furnished by the banks were not uniform either, which led to further confusion among citizens. Karur Vysya Bank’s Prabhadevi branch issued small forms for the exchange, asking customers to provide their name, mobile number, the number of notes to be deposited, composite amount and signature, and ignored the identity proof. Kotak Bank in the same neighbourhood, however demanded the identity proof along with the form filled out.
At ICICI Bank’s Prabhadevi branch, customers had to fill out a small slip and present the identity proof. Alwyn Joseph, an employee of the branch said, “We have been told to collect the proof for reconciliation purposes and maintaining records.”
A woman, who works as a house help in Dadar, requesting anonymity, said, “I have five notes of ₹2000 each. When I went to the Central Bank of India, I was asked to fill the form. I did not know how to do so and returned without exchanging the money. I will have to seek my son’s help now.” She added that shops have stopped accepting the ₹2000 currency.
Pankaj Khandelwal, a resident of Goregaon, was anxious about filling out forms, which was put to rest when he “visited the Punjab National Bank’s Jawahar Nagar branch in Goregaon West, where the process was smooth without any documentation”.
Making deposits in one’s own branch was simple. Ravindra Yadav got his job done “in less than 20 minutes at SBI without filing out any form”. Some customers like Kishore Baikar, cleverly deposited cash at Kotak Mahindra’s deposit machine. “It barely took a minute to deposit the money into my account. I did not fill any forms and the bank’s service was good,” said Baikar.
The ₹2,000 notes will continue to remain a legal tender till September 30; therefore there “was no need to rush”, said RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das last week. “We expect most of ₹2,000 banknotes to come back to the exchequer by September 30. We have more than adequate quantities of printed notes already available in the system, not just with RBI but also with currency chests operated by banks. There is no reason to worry,” Das had said.