Banks of Haryana NCR districts asked to deal with RBI Chandigarh office

The cash-strapped banks of Haryana districts in the national capital region may have more trouble as the central bank has instructed them to accept and remit currency at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regional

The cash-strapped banks of Haryana districts in the national capital region may have more trouble as the central bank has instructed them to accept and remit currency at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) regional office in the state capital Chandigarh instead of New Delhi.

Bankers said long-distance travel would not only be time consuming but involve security risks too. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

Bankers said long-distance travel would not only be time consuming but involve security risks too.

Earlier, banks from Gurgaon, Faridabad, Mewat, Palwal, Rewari, and Mahendragarh districts have been collecting and remitting currency at RBI’s regional head office in New Delhi. On Sunday, when representatives of banks from Gurgaon went to remit old currency and collect new notes at RBI’s New Delhi currency chest, they were told to go to the RBI office in Chandigarh.

“Our head office in New Delhi informed us on Sunday that RBI Chandigarh directed not to accept or remit cash in currency chests in New Delhi and to remit it in Chandigarh. This will increase hassles of staff already grappling with problems,” a senior official with a leading bank said requesting anonymity. The officer said the new directive seemed a fallout of the shortage.

Lead district manager (LDM), Gurgaon, wrote to the RBI regional office, Chandigarh, on Sunday stating that carrying cash between Gurgaon and Chandigarh -- about 300 kms from Gurgaon -- would not only be time consuming but also involved security risk.

The letter was also marked to Gurgaon district administration, Gurgaon police, and state-level bankers’ committee. LDM RC Nayak refused to comment about the letter. An LDM is an interface between banks and government in a district.

Nirmal Chand, regional director, RBI Chandigarh, said Haryana banks in NCR are under the jurisdiction of Chandigarh regional office but there is flexibility of collecting and remitting cash in the nearest branch. “We have not issued any such directions but I will look into the matter,” he said.

GC Talukdar, general manager (issue department) RBI New Delhi, said the New Delhi regional office catered to the NCR earlier but the jurisdiction was changed two years ago because of the issue of state borders. “Now, New Delhi office caters only to the national capital territory. Banks in Haryana have to deal with Chandigarh regional office,” Talukdar said.

The RBI website, however, shows NCR under the jurisdiction of RBI New Delhi regional office.

Gurgaon has a total 715 bank branches of which six banks with 239 branches have currency chests in Gurgaon. Currency chests of these six banks have cash holding capacity of ₹3,213 crore and they require ₹650 crore cash currency on every second and third day to meet the increased demand ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes were scrapped.

Rest of the 476 bank branches exhausted their cash by Saturday and need approximately ₹10 crore per day which amounts to ₹4,760 crore.